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The 
PATMOS VISIONS 


A Study of the Apocalypse 


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EM asicar sewed 





By 


PHILIP MAURO 


AUTHOR OF 


The World and Its God, Life in the Word, 
The Number of Man, The Seventy Weeks, 
The Chronology of the Bible, Evolution at the 
Bar, etc., etc. 


“I JESUS have sent Mine angel to testify unto you these 
things in the churches” 


\ 


HAMILTON Bros. 
SCRIPTURE TRUTH DEPOT 
120 Tremont Street, Boston, Mass. 


Copyright 1925 
By Hamilton Bros. 


Printed in the United States of America 


Contents 


Chapter 


XIII 


XIV 


Introductory Remarks . 

Outlines and Major Divisions of the Book 
The Vision of the Son of Man . 

The Letters to the Churches of Asia . 
The Vision of the Throne in Heaven . 
The Opening of the Seals 

The Trumpet Series 

The Mighty Angel With the Little Book . 
The Two Signs in Heaven 

The Vision of the Two Wild Beasts . 
Seven Visions of the Time of the End . 


‘The Seven Vials 


Rejoicings in Heaven. The Marriage of the Lamb. 


The Battle of Armageddon 


00) 


The New Heaven and New Earth. ‘The Bride. 


The Holy Jerusalem 
Conclusion—Where We Now Stand . 


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Introductory Remarks 


THINK it not amiss to state that I have felt 
| impelled to the writing of this present book. I 
—-— was most reluctant to undertake it; for whenever 
the thought presented itself, such mountains of diffi- 
culty arose before my mind, that I shrunk from the 
attempt with a deep consciousness of my insufficiency. 
Yet the pressure to which I have referred persisted, 
and with i Parcs force, until at last I made.a be- 
ginning truly ‘‘in weakness, and in fear, and in much 
trembling’. But confidence came as I went on; for it 
seemed evident that help was being given from above, 
in that difficulties vanished, and passage after passage, 
previously dark or obscure, opened up clearly to my 
view. 

When the significance of the four horses and their 
riders dawned upon me and was confirmed by abun- 
dant evidence from the Scriptures; when the meaning 
of the great “signs in heaven” of Chapter XII was per- 
ceived; and particularly when the trumpet visions 
showed forth their transcendently important meaning 
—all in the clear light of other Scriptures— I could 
no longer doubt that these studies, however defective 
as to details, were correct as to the main lines of the 
prophecy, and that they should be given to my com- 
panions in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ. 

The reader will understand that I am not giving the 
above experience as a reason why anyone should ac- 


1 





2 Introductory Remarks 


cept the explanations set forth in this book, but only 
as my own reason for publishing it. 

A good test of the explanation of any part of the 
Apocalypse is its agreement, or otherwise, with the de- 
sign of the Book as a whole. If it be seen in the first 
place that the interpretation of a particular passage 
explains the symbols thereof consistently with the scrip- 
tural usage of those symbols, and without straining, 
forcing, or in anyway manipulating them; and if it then 
be found to be in harmony with the design of the Book 
as a whole, and specially with that of the particular 
group to which it pertains, it may be safely accepted as 
correct. For the true solution of every complicated 
problem proves itself by the fact that it explains and 
agrees with every feature thereof. 

Take for example the trumpet series: All the visions 
in that group should have a common character, in 
agreement with the biblical significance of a trumpet. 
So the explanation of every trumpet vision must first 
of all meet that requirement. Then it must agree with 
the explanation of each of the other trumpet visions, 
and stand in proper chronological order with respect 
thereto. And finally, the entire trumpet series must 
be so explained as to be in agreement with all the other 
groups, in such wise as to constitute with them a com- 
plete and harmonious design, answering to the de- 
clared purposes for which the Apocalypse was written. 
I think the explanations given herein can bear this test. 

In the preparation of this book I have been guided 
throughout by the principles, first, that the Apocalypse 


Introductory Remarks 3 


is written not in common speech, like the other Books 
of the New Testament, but in the sign language; and 
second, that every sign, symbol, or figure is interpreted 
somewhere in the Bible. What Hengstenberg said is 
most true: ‘The seer of the Apocalypse lives entirely 
in Holy Scripture’. And so is Zullig’s remark to the 
same effect: ‘The Book hardly ever refers to any- 
thing that is not Biblical”. Therefore in the Bible it- 
self the explanation of every symbol is to be sought; 
and there too it may be found, if diligent search be 
made. ! 

And here we have an exceedingly strong proof of 
the authenticity of the Book, and that it is the Divine - 
ending to the sacred Volume. For the Apocalypse 
sends those who would search out its treasures, to 
every part of the Bible, thereby proving its relation to 
all the other Books, as an essential part of one design. 
On the other hand, the diverse rays of light that spring 
up: from every part of the Bible, point onward to, and 
converge upon, this final Book. 


In entering upon the study of the Apocalypse, one is 
met at the threshold by certain questions which he must 
needs settle before he can advance. These preliminary 
questions relate to the main divisions of the Book, and 
to the relations they bear one to another, in respect 
both to their subject matter, and also to their sequence, 
that is to say, to the chronological order of the events 
they severally symbolize. For there are two conflict- 
ing systems of interpretation that claim our careful 





4 Introductory Remarks 


consideration, namely, the Historicist, and the Futur- 
ist; and the difference between them is great. 

1. The Historicist System 

This is the generally accepted Protestant view of 
the Book, a prominent feature thereof being that it re- 
gards the first beast of Chapter XIII as representing 
the Church of Rome, and the second as representing 
the Papacy. According to this system, the things seen 
in the several groups of visions of Chapters VI to XX 
(from the opening ‘of the first seal to the beginning © 
of the Millennium) are events that were to happen 
during this present gospel dispensation. Hence, ex- 
positors of this school seek the fulfilment of those 
visions in the historical events of the Christian Era. 
And generally, though not perhaps unanimously, they 
regard the several groups as following each other in 
regular chronological order; that is to say, the seven 
seals are supposed to begin at the days of the apostles 
and to carry us along a few centuries; and then the 
trumpet group begins where the seals leave off; and 
then the vials in like manner. According to this view, 
as elaborated by its able exponents, Newton, Birks, 
Guinness and many others, all or nearly all the proph- 
ecies of the Book down to the Millennium have now 
been fulfilled. 

I find certain serious defects in this system; chiefly 
that it ignores what seems to me a very plain fact, 
namely, that the visions of the several groups are ar- 
ranged not with respect to the period of time in which 
the things they picture are to happen, but with respect 





Introductory Remarks 5 


to their character, or subject matter. Thus, the things 
symbolized by the seals have the same general char- 
acter, so with the trumpets; and so with the vials. For 
surely, the fact that certain things are grouped to- 
gether under a certain emblem that is common to them 
all, whereas other things are grouped together under 
another emblem, common to them, but very different 
from the first, is proof that the grouping is topical and 
not chronological. ‘Therefore, one of the main con- 
clusions underlying the present exposition is that each 
of the several groups is complete in itself, and that its 
starting-point in time must be determined without any 
reference at all to the point in time at which the pre- 
ceding group ended. Thus the groups may, or may 
not, overlap; that is to say, one group may take us 
again over a period of time already traversed by a pre- 
ceding group, in order to reveal events of a different 
character, or in a different sphere. ‘This feature of the 
independence of each group from the others I regard 
as of prime importance, insomuch that, if disregarded, 
the interpretation must needs be erroneous. It is a 
feature that characterizes other parts of the Bible. A 
conspicuous and instructive instance is found at the 
very beginning thereof. For the first section of Genesis 
(Chap. 1:1-2:3), is complete in itself. It gives a 
consecutive account of the creative acts of the six days, 
including the creation of man, male and female; and 
it goes on to the seventh day, upon which God rested 
from all His work. The next section of the Book, 
which begins at verse 4 of Chapter II, does not take up 








6 Introductory Remarks 


the account where the first leaves off, but goes back 
to the work of the third day, giving particulars con- 
cerning the origin of plant life; and then it comes to 
the sixth day, and gives a detailed description of the 
creation of the first man and first woman. Precisely 
the same method is seen again and again in Revelation. 
Thus, for example, the series of the seven seals gives 
an account of consecutive happenings up to the day of 
wrath (sixth seal) and takes us on to the silence in 
heaven (a sabbath) at the opening of the seventh seal. 
Then the visions of the trumpet group go back, and 
give particulars of eras embraced in the preceding 
visions of the seals. [his example is the more note- 
worthy because of the marked correspondences in other 
respects between Genesis, the Book of the old creation, 
and Revelation, the Book of the new creation. 

Another objection to the Historicist system is that 
its explanations are often materialistic, sometimes 
grotesquely so. It seeks an interpretation of every 
vision in some historical event—a battle, an invasion, 
a revolution—or some happening of a purely physical 
kind; and often it is exceedingly difficult to see any re- 
semblance between the symbol and the thing it is sup- 
posed to represent. But to me, the Book is essentially 
spiritual in character; and while it certainly has much 
to do with human affairs and other happenings on 
earth, yet it has much to do also with happenings on 
the spiritual, or unseen, side of creation. This will 
appear clearly in the course of the exposition. 





Introductory Remarks 7 


2. The Futurist System 

This system of interpretation has gained the accept- 
ance of many writers and students of prophecy during 
the past forty years. Apparently its popularity is due 
largely to Dr. Seiss’ Lectures on the Apocalypse; for 
there is little in current writings of the futurists that 
is not found in those Lectures. According to this view, 
all the visions from and including Chapter IV to the 
end of the Book are yet future; and none will begin to 
be fulfilled until the resurrection and rapture of the 
saints (1 Thess. 4:14-17; 1 Cor. 15:51, 52) shall have 
taken place. It is a distinctive feature of the Futurist 
system that all the events and eras pictured in Chapters 
IV to XX. 6, inclusive (i. e. to the beginning of the 
Millennium) are to take place in the short space of 
seven years; and that this fateful period, into which all 
these stupendous events are to be crowded, is the last 
‘‘week”’ of the seventy weeks of years mentioned in the 
famous prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27. For it is held 
by commentators of this school that the seventieth 
“week”? was not continuous with the other sixty-nine, 
but is to be viewed as a disconnected period of time, 
which will be fitted in at the end of the Christian Era, 
filling the interval between Christ’s coming for, and 
His coming with, His people. 

It will be recognized by all who consider the matter 
with any degree of care, that the Futurist view is a 
radical one, involving departures of a very material 
character from the view that has been taken by Prot- 
estant expositors in general. For that reason it should 





8 Introductory Remarks 


not be accepted without a diligent inquiry first as to 
the foundations upon which it rests. Having held that 
view for a number of years I was, of course, reluctant 
to part with it; and the more so because it is the teach- 
ing of so many of those who, in these last days, are 
standing firmly for the truth of the gospel of Christ. 
But a painstaking examination of the matter has satis- 
fied me that the futurist interpretation lacks the sup- 
port of scriptural evidence; whereas, for the historical 
fulfilment of many of these prophetic visions, we have 
all the proof there ever can be in such a case; namely, 
the correspondence of the event with the thing fore- 
told. 

Therefore, to those who hold the futurist view of 
the Apocalypse, my word is this: You must needs 
admit upon the proof offered in the following pages, 
first, that the events therein referred to have hap- 
pened, and the conditions therein described have ex- 
isted, during this present era; and second, that those 
events and conditions do correspond closely with the 
prophetic visions of the Book; and that is all I ask. 
If beyond that you think there is reason to expect a 
further and more complete fulfilment after Christ shall 
have come for His people, there is nothing to forbid. 
I can only say that I do not share that expectation. 

One strong objection I now see to the Futurist view- 
point is that it tends to quench one’s interest in this 
wonderful Book, by pushing the things it predicts far 
away from us, making its transcendently important 
revelations to be for those of a coming dispensation, 





Introductory Remarks 9 


the so-called ‘‘tribulation saints’, and thus virtually de- 
taching it from the rest of the Bible. On an occasion, 
some years ago, when I raised a question about this 
with one who held the Futurist view, he suggested that 
we should not grudge to the “tribulation saints’? one 
Book out of the sixty-six in the Bible. But I do most 
decidedly grudge it to them, and the more so because 
I am firmly persuaded that the “tribulation saints’’ of 
the Futurist system are altogether an imaginary com- 
pany; and that we, the Lord’s people of this dispensa- 
tion, are the true “tribulation saints’ (John 16:33; 
Ac. 14:22; and see comments below on Rev. 7:14). 
After I had completed my preliminary studies, and 
had made considerable progress in the writing of the 
present volume, Hengstenberg’s valuable commentary, 
written more than seventy-five years ago (and previ- 
ously quite unknown to me) came by chance into my 
hands. I was gratified to find in it (as will appear by 
quotations here and there) a confirmation of conclu- 
sions I had reached in regard to some of the more im- 
portant visions. I am indebted also to the author of 
that exposition for light upon several specific passages. 
But as to his exposition as a whole, it seems to me that, 
to use one of his own favorite expressions, ‘‘it swims 
in the air’. For his interpretations of the major 
groups are not attached to any definite events or 
epochs; and even the Millennium is left floating about, 
as a thing that has had its fulfilment somewhere in the 
time past of this present dispensation. This is ‘‘post- 
millennialism” of a sort I had not hitherto heard of. 





IO Introductory Remarks 


My expectation is that the present volume will at 
least serve the useful surpose of awakening fresh inter- 
est at this time in the study of the Apocalypse, a thing 
much to be desired. ‘This I believe the reading of it 
will do, regardless of whether the reader views the 
Book from the historicist, or from the futurist stand- 
point. And my expectation also is that it will prove 
helpful in the study of Bible Symbology in general. I 
feel confident that the right lines of interpretation have 
been followed, and that the various groups of visions 
have been correctly explained as to their main features. 
Yet there remain many questions to be answered, 
affording abundant opportunity for further study in 
various directions. Particularly is further light to be 
sought with respect to some of the numerical symbols. 

And now, with praise and thanksgiving to Him 
Who gave us this “Revelation of Jesus Christ,” for the 
hours spent and meditations enjoyed in the study of 
it, and for the sustaining strength and help therein 
that could have come from no other source, I commit 
to His use, and invoke His blessing upon, this humble 
effort to edify His saints, heartily uniting with all who 
can say: “Unto Him that loveth us, and hath washed 
us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us 
kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him 
be glory and dominion for ever and ever, Amen’’. 


Framingham, Mass., June 30, 1925. 


CHAR TE Rel 


Outlines and Major Divisions of the Book 


N ENTERING upon the study of this wonderful 
| Book we should keep always in mind that what 
we have before us is the Revelation of Jesus ‘ 
Christ. It is not the revelation of things to come, 
though it has to do largely therewith. It is not the 
revelation of the four horsemen, nor of the woman 
clothed with the sun, nor of the ten horned beast, nor 
of the scarlet woman, nor of the fall of Babylon, nor 
of the New Jerusalem, but—of Jesus Curist. ‘There- 
fore we should be ever on the alert to observe how, 
and in what various connections, Christ is revealed 
in the different divisions of the Prophecy. For Christ 
is central in every part of the Book, and every group 
of symbols derives its significance from Him. 

With this thought in mind, and remembering also 
that the groupings of the symbols are according to 
topics, or subject-matter, and not necessarily accord- 
ing to chronological order, let us take a rapid survey 
of the entire Book, and thus familiarize ourselves in 
a general way with the several subjects here revealed 
in their relations to the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Chapters I-III, Emphasis is here laid upon the 
foundation truth concerning Christ that He is the 
Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, the 
First and the Last (vv. 8, 11). He is here fully iden- 


11 


eS SSS 


12 The Patmos Visions 





tified with ‘Him which is, and which was, and which 
is to come, the Almighty” (vv. 4, 8). In these chap- 
ters He is revealed as the great Head of the Church 
(Eph. 1:22; Col. 1:18), giving His message, by the 
Spirit, to the angels of the seven churches, a special 
message covering the entire dispensation, and intended 
for all the churches of Christ (2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 
13, 22). It is easy to see that in this entire vision we 
have but one general subject, Christ in relation to the 
churches, and that with the next vision (Chap. IV) 
there is a complete change of subject. Happenings in 
a different sphere altogether from that of the churches 
of Christ are pictured to us from this point on to the 
end of the Book. Hence the question arises, do these 
events belong to the same era as that in which the 
churches of Christ are in the world, or to a subsequent 
era? Do they run parallel to the history of the 
churches, or do they lie entirely beyond the last chap- 
ter of that history? ‘The latter view is that of the 
futurist school of interpretation, which is in favor with 
many students of prophecy in our day. But I have 
been constrained to reject that view as contrary to the 
evidence, which points clearly to the conclusion that 
the design of the Book as a whole is to give to the peo- 
ple of God (Christ’s ‘‘servants’’) a foreview of those 
events of the Christian era which in God’s estimation 
thereof are most important, and would best serve to 
sustain their faith and patience during the long period 
of waiting for the coming again of the Lord from 





Outlines and Major Divisions of the Book 13 


heaven. For it seems very clear to me that, as an- 
other has said :— 


“The Revelation gives no regularly progressive disclosure of 
the future, advancing in unbroken series from beginning to end; 
but it falls into a number of groups, which indeed supplement 
each other, every successive vision giving some other aspect of 
the future, but which are still formally complete in themselves, — 
each proceeding from a beginning to an end”’. 


Chapters IV-VII, Here we have a vision of heaven 
and the throne of God therein. Christ is now seen in 
a very different character, being symbolized as ‘‘a 
Lamb as it had been slain”. In that character He 
takes the throne and receives the book sealed with 
seven seals. So we here behold the Lord as Redeemer 
and Heir, receiving the Kingdom He has gained by His 
redemptive work (Dan. /7:13,\143 [Du 19:12, 15) ine 
cluding ‘‘all power (authority) in heaven and in earth” 
(Mat. 28:18). He thereupon proceeds to exercise 
this authority by opening successively the seals of the 
book; and as the seals are opened on the throne of 
heaven, world-embracing events take place on earth, 
whereby, as will be seen hereafter, the course of his- 
tory throughout this entire dispensation from begin- 
ning to end, was to be shaped. 

Chapters VII to XI. 18. The era of this vision (or 
series of visions) is that of the seven trumpets. It is 
characterized by visitations in judgment upon the deni- 
zens of earth, at first comparatively mild in their na- 
ture, but increasing in severity, and culminating in the 
' three “‘Woe’’—trumpets, the last of which ushers in 





Pays | Tie Patmos Visions 


the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judg- 
ment of God (Rom. 2:5). As the purpose of a trum-- 
pet is to sound a loud, far-reaching warning (Ezek. 
33:3) so the events of this series are warnings to men 
and nations to take heed to their ways, and to flee 
from the wrath to come, by submitting to the will of 
God and the authority of His King. In this series 
Christ appears, not in the likeness of a Son of man, 
girt as Head and Lord of His churches, nor as a Lamb 
newly slain, but as a mighty “Angel”. In Chapter 
8 :3-5, He stands at the golden altar, and ‘much in- 
cense’”’ is given Him, which He adds to (marg.) the 
prayers of all the saints. Inasmuch as no creature 
could minister at that altar, or offer the prayers of 
“all the saints’’ to God, or add any merit or worthiness 
(incense) thereto, it is clear that Christ Himself is 
represented by this symbol. What this has to do with 
the action of the trumpets will appear later on. 
Again, just before the sounding of the last trumpet, 
He is seen as a mighty Angel, whose face is as the sun 
and His feet as pillars’ of fres(cfs Chap. :15 771 6) 
and to the accompaniment of a loud voice, as when a 
lion roareth, and of the seven thunders, He places 
His right foot upon the sea and His left on the earth, 
thereby showing that all things have been put under 
His feet (Eph. 1:22), and announces the speedy end- 
ing of “the mystery of God” (Chap. 10:1-7). 
Chapters XII, XIII. ‘The days of the voice of the 
seventh angel’ (10:7) were to be an era of trans- 
cendent importance, that in which the eternal purpose 


eee eee eee eee ee ————— 


ee 
Outlines and Major Divisions of the Book 15 


of God in the creation of man (Gen. 1:26) was to be 
accomplished. That purpose was to be fulfilled not 
in Adam, the first man, but in the Son of man, and 
specifically in the woman’s “Seed”. In keeping with 
this, Christ is revealed in this vision first as the “Man 
child Who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron”, 
whom the dragon, “that old serpent’ (as old as the 
days of Eden, and older,) sought to destroy, but who 
was caught up to God and His throne (12:5). 

Chapters XIV-XVIII. Another vision, marking 
another division of the Book, begins at Chapter 14:1, 
with the words: ‘‘And I looked and lo, a Lamb stood on 
the mount Sion’. The period of this vision is the last 
part of the days of the voice of the seventh angel, 
marked by the outpouring of the vials of wrath, the 
overthrow of the Kingdom of the beast, and the fall 
of Babylon. 

In this era the rule of rebellious man, human govern- 
ment in its opposition to God, reaches its culmination 
in the reign of the beast. After contemplating this 
development on earth, John looks in another direction 
and sees on Mount Sion (where God said He would 
put His King, Ps. 2:6) a Lamb, and with Him a hun- 
dred and forty-four thousand, having His Father’s 
Name in their foreheads (Chap. 14:1). Christ is also 
seen in this vision as One like a Son of man, seated 
upon a cloud, having upon His head a golden crown, 
and in His hand a sharp sickle, with which He is about 
to reap the harvest of the earth (14:14, 15). 





16 The Patmos Visions 


Here again, as is easy to see, Christ is revealed in 
characters which are in keeping with the subject of 
the vision. 

Chapters XIX, XX. This vision opens with trans- 
ports of joy in heaven, amidst which ‘‘the marriage of 
the Lamb” is announced (19:1-7); and then John 
sees heaven opened, and a wondrous vision of Christ 
is given as the ‘‘Faithful and True” (v. 11), as “The 
Word of God” (v. 13), and as ‘KING OF KINGS, AND 
Lorp oF Lorps”’ (vy. 16). 

Chapters XXI, XXII. In these last chapters we 
are brought to the ‘‘new heaven and new earth,’ to 
the eternal state and the heavenly Jerusalem. There is 
here no symbolic representation of Christ, but we are 
told that the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are 
the temple of the Holy City, and that ‘‘the Lamb is 
the light thereof’? (21:22, 23). And at the end His 
voice is heard again speaking to John as at the begin- 
ning, declaring once more that He is “Alpha and 
Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the 
Last,” and giving the thrice-repeated assurance, “‘I 
come quickly.” 

Thus it will be seen that the Book as a whole is 
composed of seven distinct groups of visions. This 
sevenfold structure is one of the prominent character- 
istics of the Book. 


Divisions and Sub-Divisions 
Looking at the contents of the Book from another 
point of view, we observe that the greater part 


Outlines and Major Divisions of the Book 17 


thereof is composed of five distinct programs or 
groups, which are easily identified, and marked off 
from each other and from other portions, by the fact 
that each comprises a complete series of seven. hese 
are :— 

bel hespeven Churches: (ChullallPy. 

2. The Seven Seals (Ch. VI-VIIT). 

3. ‘The Seven Trumpets (Ch. VIII-XI). 

4. The Seven Visions of Chapter XIV. 

5. The Seven Vials (Ch. XVIII). 

Further we observe that, in addition to these five 
groups, each composed of exactly seven distinct parts, 
there are other visions, which are introduced at var- 
ious points, and which have a special bearing upon 
what follows next after their respective appearances. 
These are :— 

1. The vision of Christ in the midst of the seven 
candlesticks (Ch. I). ‘This introduces the letters to 
the seven Churches. 

2. The vision of the throne in heaven, the Lamb 
taking the throne, and receiving the book sealed with 
seven seals (Ch. IV, V). This introduces the program 
of the seals. 

3. The vision of the sealing of 144,000 of all the 
tribes of Israel, and of the innumerable company out 
of all nations (Ch. VII). This vision occurs between 
the 6th and 7th seals. It plainly pertains to the day 
of wrath (6th seal), and signifies the restraining of 
the destroying storm (‘four winds’) until all the 
elect are gathered out (Mat. 13:30). 








18 The Patmos Visions 





4. The vision of the angel at the golden altar, who 
offers the prayers of all saints, with much incense 
added thereto (Ch. VIII). This introduces the pro- 
gram of the trumpets. 

5. The vision of the mighty Angel whose face was 
like the sun, who had in his hand a little book open, 
and who set one foot on the sea, and the other on the 
dry land, and swore that the mystery of God should 
be finished in the days of the voice of the seventh angel 
(Ch. X). This introduces the immensely important 
era of the 7th trumpet. And here we find a special 
group of prophecies, apparently those of the little 
book which John was commanded to eat. ‘They are 
found in Chapters XII, XIII, XIV. 

6. The vision of the measuring of the temple of 
God, and of the two witnesses (Ch. XI). This vision 
also precedes the sounding of the seventh trumpet. 

7. The panoramic vision of the sun-clothed woman, 
the great red dragon and the Man-child (Ch. XIV). 
This leads into the vision of the ten-horned beast 
that rose up out of the sea, and of the two-horned 
beast that rose up later out of the earth (Ch. XIII). 

8. The vision of the company standing upon a sea 
of glass, who sing the song of Moses and the song of 
the Lamb (Ch. XV). This introduces the program of 
the vials. 

9. The vision of the woman on the ten-horned 
beast (Ch. XVII). This adds further details of the 
reign of the beast. 





Outlines and Major Divisions of the Book 19 


10. The vision of the fall of Babylon (Ch. XVII), 
giving additional particulars concerning the day of 
wrath. 

11. The vision in heaven acclaiming the approach 
of the marriage of the Lamb (Ch. XIX). This intro- 
duces the coming of Christ in judgment to execute 
vengeance on His enemies (2 Thess. 1:7-10), and to 
reign with His saints a thousand years. 


12. The vision of the New Jerusalem (Ch. <XI). 


The first of the main divisions of the Book, which 
embraces the messages to the seven churches and the 
introductory vision of Christ in the midst of the seven 
golden candlesticks, is different in character from the 
other four. It is composed mainly of a series of let- 
ters dictated by the Lord Jesus Christ, each to a 
different church. There is no action at all in the three 
chapters which make up that first division of the 
Apocalypse. The other four series of sevens, on the 
contrary, are all action, and often of the liveliest char- 
acter. 

Then again, the theater of the first series is that 
wherein Christ is owned as Lord—the churches; 
whereas the theater of the other four series is the hos- 
tile world, by which He is rejected. To that world 
He has nothing to say in addition to what He has al- 
ready said, and is saying, through the gospel. There 
is no new message and no further message for the 
world; and even when, at the very end of time, an 
angel flies in mid-heaven with a special word to them 





20 The Patmos Visions 


that dwell on the earth, even to every nation, and 
kindred, and tongue and people, that word is none 
other than ‘“‘the everlasting gospel’’ (Rev. 14:6). 
What the Spirit has further to say in this last Book of 
the Bible is not to men in general, but “to the 
churches’. Indeed this Book is peculiar in this, among 
other things, that God gave it to Jesus Christ to show 
unto His servants—not to any others. No wonder 
then that to many it appears to be a bewildering jumble 
of meaningless and ill-assorted objects, animate and 
inanimate. 

We note then that there is one series of sevens which 
has to do with the spiritual realm—-the churches—and 
is in plain words from the lips of Jesus Christ; and 
' then follow four series of sevens that have to do with 
the physical realm—the world and its inhabitants; and 
these latter are expressed in symbols that serve to hide 
their meanings from all who are not the servants of the 
Lord Jesus Christ. | 

A careful observation of these main divisions. and 
prominent features of the Book, and their relations to 
one another, will help greatly to an understanding of 
the details of the several visions. 


But we would look a little more closely at the rela- 
tions which the several major divisions (especially the 
five series of sevens mentioned above) bear to one 
another. 

1. ‘The first series—the messages to the churches— 
is in a class by itself; and inasmuch as it is given in 





Outlines and Major Divisions of the Book 21 


ordinary language, not in symbols (though it contains 
many figurative expressions), it offers no special difh- 
culty. 

2. The program of the Seals is comprehensive; for 
it embraces all the three subsequent programs. It ex- 
tends from the time Christ ascended into heaven and 
occupied the throne of God, taking into His hands the | 
seven-sealed book, down to the sabbath-silence in 
heaven that ensued upon the opening of the seventh 
seal. 

This series has an important distinction, namely, 
that each successive stage of it is introduced by an 
action of the Lamb in Person—the breaking of a seal; 
whereas in the other programs the successive stages are 
introduced by the mediation of angels. 

_3. The program of the Trumpets begins at some 
period of time prior to the day of wrath (sixth seal) 
and continues to and into that great and terrible day. 
Its character throughout is that of warnings, in the 
form of visitations of a calamitous nature, increasing in 
severity, all with the object of bringing men to re- 
pentance. 

4. The program of Chapter XIV lies wholly in the 
latter part of the era of the Trumpets. The events 
of this series follow one another in rapid succession; 
and there are clear indications, as will be seen later on, 
that their location is just before the end, probably be- 
tween the Sixth and Seventh Trumpets. This series 
gives us a look behind the scenes, showing us happen- 
ings on the spiritual side of creation at the time of the 








22 The Patmos Visions 





end, whereas Chapter XIII shows events on the ma- 
terial side. 

5. The program of the Vials is the most limited of 
all. Its period is the latter part of ‘“‘the days of the 
voice of the seventh angel”. It is the very end of the 
day of wrath. 


As to the Symbols Used in the Book 


The language of this Book for the most part is 
not that of common life. It is the language often 
used by the O. T. prophets, in which the meaning 
is conveyed mainly by symbols drawn from nature, or 
from human affairs. ‘Therefore a knowledge of com- 
mon language will not carry one very far in the inter- 
pretation of this Book. One must know the meaning 
of the symbols found in it, which are many and of 
extraordinary variety. The first verse notifies us that 
the Book is written in the language of signs; for it is 
there stated that Christ sent and “‘Signified”’ it, that is, 
communicated it by signs, to His servant John. 

These signs or symbols are such as are used in 
prophetic dreams, as those of Joseph, of Pharaoh’s 
officers, of Pharaoh himself, of Nebuchadnezzar; and 
in the visions of Ezekiel, Daniel, Zechariah, and other 
prophets. ‘To these therefore we must go, and we 
must search them carefully for whatever information 
is to be had from them concerning the symbols used in 
Revelation. Some of the symbols are explained in the 
Book itself (e. g. 1:20; 17:12, 15, 18); and from 
other parts of the Scriptures, as those just mentioned, 





Outlines and Major Divisions of the Book 23 


all the light we need as to the meaning of the symbols 
is to be had. 

Such being the character of the Book, we must be 
ever on our guard against looking for literal fulfil- 
ments of the symbols, as for the destruction of literal 
ships in the sea, or of literal trees and grass, and for 
literal hail, earthquakes, etc. For the sea is a symbol | 
(as we are plainly told), and of course the “ships” 
therein must also be symbols; and so with other things 
in all parts of the Book. Many, we believe, have gone 
astray through not observing this most necessary 
caution. 

But it is possible, and indeed easy, to err on the other 
side also. For not everything named in the Book is a 
symbol. Hence it is sometimes a difficult matter to 
decide whether a certain thing is presented in its own 
proper character, or as a representation of something 
else. 

Again, we must not expect always to find the things 
symbolized in the realm of the physical; for there are 
important happenings which lie wholly in the realm of 
the spiritual, whereof only the effects are manifest to 
human senses. Creation has two sides, the visible (to 
mortal eyes) and the invisible; and the Book we are 
studying is an account of things that were to happen 
both in the realm of the seen and in that of the unseen. 
Angels and principalities and powers, both good and 
evil, are as much involved in the happenings of this 
Book, as earthly dominions, nations, and potentates. 
The book whose seven seals were successively broken 








24 The Patmos Visions 


by the Lamb on the throne, and which was gradually 
unrolled by Him, was written on both sides, indicating 
that the things contained in it pertained both to the 
outer realm of nature, and the inner realm of the spirit. 

And furthermore, some of the earthly things sym- 
bolized are not of a tangible sort, but are in the nature 
of a political or religious movement or development, as 
the rise of the Papacy, the Protestant Reformation, 
and the like. 

These are some of the matters it is needful for us to 
keep in mind as we seek for the interpretation of the 
symbols used in this Book. 


In What Era is the Fulfilment of These 
Visions to be Sought? 


Out of respect for those expositors who have 
adopted the futurist system of interpretation and 
for the many who have accepted their views, I feel 
called upon, before proceeding to the detailed ex- 
position of the Book, to set forth fully the reasons 
why I believe that ‘the words of this prophecy”’ 
refer to events that were to happen in, and not 
after, this present dispensation. And we have not to 
seek far or dig deep to find ample reason to warrant 
that belief; for the very first verse states that God’s 
purpose in giving this revelation to Jesus Christ was 
that He might ‘“‘show unto His servants things which 
must shortly come to pass’. ‘These words are not at 
all ambiguous, and the simple-minded would never sus- 


Outlines and Major Divisions of the Book 25 


pect that they could have been intended to convey any 
other than their ordinary and apparent meaning, 
namely, that the things foretold in ‘this prophecy”’ 
were to happen in the era that was just then beginning. 
The word here rendered “‘shortly’’ means just that. 
It is variously translated in other Scriptures by the 
words quickly, speedily, soon. Thus, in Acts 25:4, 
Festus, after commanding that Paul be kept at Caes- 
area, said that “he himself would depart shortly 
thither’. In Philippians 2:19 Paul writes, ‘I trust to 
send Timotheus unto you shortly”. And so also in 
1 Timothy 3:14; Hebrews 13:23; and 2 Peter 1:14. 
In Galatians 1:6 we have, ‘‘so soon removed”; in 
Philippians 2 :33, “so soon as I shall see how it will go 
with”; and in 2 Thessalonians 2:2, “That ye be not 
soon shaken in mind.” 

Such being the invariable usage of the word in the 
N. T., it is inconceivable that it would have been em- 
ployed in the first sentence of this Book if the things 
revealed in it were not to begin to happen until the 
entire dispensation should have run its course. 

Furthermore, the persons that were to be benefited 
by this ‘Revelation of Jesus Christ’? were God’s ‘‘ser- 
vants’’, and first of all those servants who were living 
at that time, represented by ‘His servant John”. 
This should suffice to settle the question; for if the 
things foreshown in these Patmos visions are not to 
begin to happen until the servants of Christ, one and 
all, shall have left this scene, of what possible use 
could these predictions, so carefully veiled in symbols, 





26 The Patmos Visions 


be to them? After the rapture of the saints the ser- 
vants of Christ will all be with Him (1 Th. 4:17) and 
the happenings on earth at that time will be displayed 
clearly before their eyes. Symbolical representations 
thereof would be useless to them. On the other hand 
we know that, as a matter of fact, the servants of 
Christ, all down the centuries of our era, have sought 
to trace the course of historic events in connection with 
the great epochs and the many vicissitudes of the King- 
dom of God by the light of this wonderful Book, not 
doubting at all that it had been given them for that 
very purpose. Were they deceived? And if so, were 
they to blame for taking the words we have quoted as 
meaning here what they invariably mean wherever 
elsewhere they are used in the N. T.? 

But furthermore, the promised blessing of verse 3 to 
those that read, hear and keep the words of this 
prophecy, is predicated expressly upon the fact that 
“the time is at hand”. This statement also is free 
from uncertainty. 

And finally, at the very end of the Book these state- 
ments are repeated in emphatic terms. For John 
records concerning the revealing angel: ‘‘And he saith 
unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the 
Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show 
unto His servants the things which must shortly be 
done” (22:6); this being a re-afirmation of what is 
stated in the first verse of the Book. And again: ‘And 
he (the angel) saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of 
the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand” 





Outlines and Major Divisions of the Book 27 


(22:10). This is an important and an enlightening 
statement, because it is manifestly intended to be read 
in contrast with the statement made by the revealing 
angel to Daniel concerning the visions given to him: 
“But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the 
book, "even to the’time of) ithe end” (Dans) 1224), 
The visions whereof the angel was speaking were those 
beginning at Chapter 9:24, and had to do with “the 
latter days’ (10:14) of the national existence of 
Daniel’s people, including the coming of Christ, His 
rejection and crucifixion, the awful overthrow of the 
city and sanctuary by the Romans, and ‘‘the time of 
trouble such as never was since there was a nation 
even to that same time’. ‘Those events were yet five 
hundred years in the future at the time they were made 
known to Daniel. Hence he was commanded to “‘shut 
up the words, and seal the book to the time of the 
end’; and with this ran the promise “The wise shall 
understand” (Dan. 12:10); which promise was ful- 
filled to the disciples of Christ when He “‘opened their 
understanding that they might understand the Scrip- 
tures’ (Lu. 24:25). But John is commanded to seal 
not the sayings of the prophecy of this Book, for the 
express reason that “the time is at hand’’. I do not 
see how we can avoid the conclusion that the visions of 
John differed from those of Daniel in that while 
Daniel’s related to a time that was about five centuries 
in the future, John’s related to a time that was to begin 
forthwith. And I here anticipate somewhat by point- 
ing out how perfectly this accords with the words of 








28 The Patmos Visions 





the voice that summoned John to heaven, saying: 
“Come up hither, and I will show thee things which 
must be hereafter’ (4:1). 

These statements are one and all so clear and simple, 
and it is so natural and reasonable to take them in their 
apparent and ordinary sense, that futurist expositors 
are faced at the outset with the embarrassing task of 
explaining them away, and of making it appear that 
the familiar words “‘shortly”’, ‘fat hand”, and “‘here- 
after’ are used in these passages with special meanings 
quite different from what they bear elsewhere in the 
Word of God. As to this I can only say that the 
best of the reasons that have been given in support 
of that view seem to me exceedingly unconvincing and 
I am glad to be relieved of the necessity of explaining 
away the obvious meaning of familiar words and 
phrases, and to feel free to accept them according to 
their common usage both in the Bible and out of it. 
For as Hengstenberg has observed, the statements 
upon which we have been dwelling ‘‘are opposed to the 
view of those who would convert the entire Book into 
a history of the time of the end, and confirm the view 
which treats it as our companion through the whole 
course of history.’ Further he aptly says: ‘The 
boundless energy of the Divine Nature admits of no 
delay. There is nothing of quiescence or indolent re- 
pose in God. His appearing often to linger is merely 
on account of our short-sightedness. He is secretly 
working for salvation and destruction, when He seems 
to us, perhaps, to be standing aloof; and only when by 





Outlines and Major Divisions of the Book 29 


the execution of His judgment we are called to enter 
His salvation, do we learn consequently what is meant 
by the ‘shortly’. ... God be praised that we are never 
pointed to the far distant future.”’ 

Another weighty consideration may appropriately be 
mentioned here. It is found in the character of the 
more prominent symbols of the Book. ‘These are of 
grand and imposing proportions, such as to demand, 
for the great events and epochs represented by them, 
time measures on the scale of centuries. The going 
forth of the four horses and the accomplishment of 
their several missions; the great events of world-wide 
importance that follow the successive trumpets; the 
history of the sun-clad woman, the Man-child, and the 
dragon, the war in heaven, the woman’s sojourn in the 
wilderness, and the persecution of her seed by the 
dragon; the rise, one after the other, of the two great 
beasts, and the development of their dominion over all 
the world; the career and overthrow of ‘Mystery 
Babylon” (the harlot), and of commercial Babylon 
(the great city) ;—all these are things of vast dimen- 
sions, requiring for any one of them a correspondingly 
great stretch of time. 

How contrary then to all reason, as well as to the 
meaning borne upon the face of the symbols them- 
selves, is any system of interpretation that would 
crowd all these great and expansive prophecies into 
the space of seven years, and which requires that the 
most stupendous world-events, events that in their very 
nature demand long periods of years, should rush at 





30 The Patmos Visions 


jig-time across the stage of human history, following 
upon one another’s heels so closely as to leave not even 
breathing-space between! 

The space of seven years in which all these tremen- 
dous happenings are assumed to take place is less than 
that which at the date of this writing (1925) already 
separates us from the late world-war, the effects of 
which are but just developing. And that was but an 
episode of world-history. Any one of these visions 
would require for its fulfilment many times the space 
of seven years. 


THE ANALOGY OF SCRIPTURE 


But there is weightier reason still for the view we are 
here taking. It is found in the voice of Scripture it- 
self. For the symbols of the horses and of the wild 
beasts are used in Old Testament prophecy, the former 
in Zechariah, and the latter in Daniel. The symbols 
of the beasts are explained in Chapters 7 and 8 of 
Daniel’s prophecy, so there is happily no room for 
question as to their meaning. The four great beasts 
that Daniel saw were four Kingdoms or world-powers 
that were to arise out of the earth (Dan. 7:17). Each 
one of those empires lasted many times seven years; 
and the last of them (the Roman) more than twice 
seven centuries. In the case of the Macedonian em- 
pire, we have in the meteoric career of Alexander the 
Great, a conquest of extraordinary rapidity, insomuch 
that it is represented by a he-goat moving so swiftly 
that he “touched not the ground” (Dan. 8 5-8). Yet 





Onin. and Major Divisions of the Book 31 


the full development of the small part of human his- 
tory that is represented by- that beast, required cen- 
turies of time. 

This should suffice to establish the matter; but the 
evidence is stronger yet. For it has been noticed by 
all commentators and indeed is too plain to escape 
attention, that the first beast of Revelation 13 closely 
resembles the fourth of Daniel 7, and has, moreover, 
some characteristic of each of the other three. Now 
practically all expositors are agreed that Daniel’s 
fourth beast represents the Roman Empire, which was 
slow in its rising and development, and which occupied 
the stage of history for a period of many centuries. 
Daniel saw this beast, so ‘“‘dreadful, terrible and 
strong’’ rise up out of the sea (Dan. 7:3); and John 
too saw a beast of the same description, only delineated 
more clearly, ‘“‘arise up out of the sea.’’ Can we close 
our eyes to these marked resemblances, and go so con- 
trary to the clear indications they furnish, as to assign 
to the entire career of John’s beast but a fraction of 
the utterly insignificant period of seven years? Would 
anyone do such a thing unless bound hand and foot by 
a theory of interpretation which requires it? 

But looking further we observe that, as Daniel con- 
sidered the horns of this fourth beast, a remarkable 
development took place. Another “little horn’? came 
up among them, having eyes like the eyes of a man, and 
a mouth speaking great things. And Daniel was par- 
ticularly impressed ‘because of the voice of the great 
words which the horn spake’. We are not for the 


ee 


32 The Patmos Visions 


Fee ee a ee SET 





moment concerned with the question who (or what) 
that little horn represented. Regardless of how that 
question may be answered, the development was one 
that required a long period of time, to which must be 
added the period of the career of the little horn. Now 
there is just such a development in John’s vision; for 
after giving various details concerning the beast with 
the seven heads and ten horns—details that suggest ex- 
tended periods of time for their fulfilment—John 
speaks of seeing another beast coming up out of the 
earth, whose speech was that of a dragon. So here is 
something which, by analogy with Daniel’s vision, must 
require for its fulfilment a long stretch of years. 
Further it should be observed that John saw the 
actual rising up of each of these beasts, one after the 
other. Therefore the vision embraces in its scope the 
entire career of each of the two beasts. ‘This fact 
alone would seem to be fatal to the futurist system of 
interpretation; for the futurists are agreed that the 
symbol of the ten-horned beast represents the Roman 
Empire. ‘True, they say it represents only the very 
last stage of that Empire, the “revived Roman Em- 
pire’, as it is generally expressed. But that restricted 
view of the significance of the symbol is not compatible 
with the statements that John saw the first beast actu- 
ally coming upon the scene—“rise up out of the sea’”»— 
and that later on he “beheld another beast coming up 
out of the earth.” These words declare in the clearest 
way that his vision embraced the actual coming into 





Outlines and Major Divisions of the Book 33 


existence of the things represented by the two beasts 
respectively. 

The futurist system should be tested also Bs what 
the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, declare 
to be one of the chief purposes for which prophecies 
are given, a matter to which the Lord Jesus Himself 
made repeated reference. ‘Thus, through Moses, this 
test of true prophecy was given: ‘‘And if thou shalt 
say in thine heart, how shall we know the word which 
the Lord hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh 
in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor 
come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not 
spoken” (Deut. 18:21, 22). ‘To the same effect the 
Lord Jesus said, “Now I tell you before it come, that 
when it 1s come to pass, ye may believe that I am he’; 
and again, “And now I have told you before it come to — 
pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe’; 
and yet again, “But these things have I told you, that 
when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told 
you of them” (John 13:19; 14:29; 16:4). 

Thus prophecy is given that the faith of the people 
of God may be strengthened by the happening of the 
thing predicted. It is eminently suited to that end, 
being as clear a manifestation of Divine action as the 
working of a miracle. It is hardly necessary to point 
out that the postponement wholesale of the prophecies 
of this Book to a yet future dispensation would frus- 
trate this important purpose, if indeed they were to be 
fulfilled in the christian era. Therefore we should 








34. | The Patmos Visions 





refuse the futurist view until it is established by full 
and clear evidence. 


Tue “MissInc WEEK” OF DANIEL’s VISION 


It is one of the fundamental assumptions of the 
futurist system of interpretation that the last of the 
“Seventy Weeks” of Daniel 9 :24-27 did not follow the 
sixty-ninth, but was detached from the others, and put 
off to the end of this present dispensation, and will fit 
into the course of time immediately after the catching 
away of the people of God (the “‘rapture’’) to meet the 
Lord in the air. This is spoken of as the “missing 
week”’; and in this supposed “missing week’”’ (seven 
years) all the stupendous events, epochs and eras of 
Revelation IV to XIX are to take place, according to 
the futurist system. I shall not discuss this fanciful 
idea in the present volume, -having considered it at 
some length in my book, ‘“‘The Seventy Weeks and the 
Great Tribulation’. 


WHat JOHN Was CHARGED TO WRITE 


The futurist view rests mainly upon a peculiar in- 
terpretation of Chapter 1:19, “Write the things which 
thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things 
which shall be hereafter’. The futurists regard John’s 
commission to write, given him in these words of 
Christ, as having three distinct and separate divisions. 
They further hold, and this is necessary to their sys- 
tem, that by “the things which thou hast seen” He 
meant only the vision described in Chapter 1, verses 





Outlines and Major Divisions of the Book 35 


12-16; that by “‘the things which are”, He meant only 
what we have in Chapters II and III, the letters to the 
seven churches of Asia; and that by ‘‘the things which 
shall be hereafter’, He meant events which then lay 
in the far distant future, wholly beyond this present 
dispensation. | 

This is a very artificial interpretation of the pas- 
sage; and certainly it is far too questionable and too 
much open to dispute to serve as a foundation for what 
has been built upon it. 

1. “The things which thou hast seen’. These words 
may indeed be limited to the single vision of Christ 
described in verses 12-18, though many commentators 
give them a meaning broad enough to include all the 
visions of the Book. I am not satisfied, however, by 
the reasoning which gives this clause so broad a mean- 
ing, and which requires us to assume that the introduc- 
tion was written after the main portion of the Book. 
But we have to take notice of the words of verse 11, 
spoken before John had turned and seen the vision of 
Christ in the midst of the candlesticks: ‘‘What thou 
seest write in a book and send it unto the seven churches 
which are in Asia’”’. This lends strong support to those 
who hold that the commission our Lord gave to John 
at this time related only to the messages to the seven 
churches, that is to say, to the first three chapters of 
the Apocalypse, and who point out that the letters to 
the churches contain things then future, as well as 
things present. So there is a serious question at the 
very threshold of our present inquiry, though while I 





36 The Patmos Visions 


admit the matter is not entirely clear, my opinion is 
that what we have in Chapter I is intended as the in- 
troduction to the entire Book, and not to the first sec- 
tion thereof only. 

2. “And the things which are’. ‘This clause lends 
no support to the futurist view. Indeed it would be 
difficult to find a less appropriate title for the contents 
of Chapters II and II]. What the futurist system, as 
based on its interpretation of 1:19, absolutely requires 
is that there should be a clearly marked division of 
the Book describing matters occurring in this present 
dispensation, ending with the coming of Christ for His 
people; and following that, another division describ- 
ing events that are to happen thereafter. But we find 
nothing of that sort. What we do find is that the two 
chapters which the futurists arbitrarily designate 
‘things which are’, differ from the chapters that fol- 
low not as regards the time of occurrence of the things 
they describe, but as regards their subject matter. For 
Chapters II and III have to do exclusively with the 
churches of Christ. Their scope is limited strictly to 
things ecclesiastical. On the other hand, the subse- 
quent chapters have nothing at all to do with the 
churches. Their scope, so far as they relate to matters 
on earth, is limited to the affairs of the nations of the 
world. This objection is fatal to the futurist system, 
since it is evident that, whatever be the nature of the 
“things which are’, the “things which shall be here- 
after’, are things of the same kind. Furthermore, 
Chapters II and III do not contain any description 





Outlines and Major Divisions of the Book 37 


whatever of things as they were at that time. They 
are wholly occupied with letters to the angels of the 
seven churches of Asia. And those letters are not 
taken up with descriptions of things as they then were, 
but the contents of one and all consists in commenda- 
tions, rebukes, promises, exhortations, and threaten- 
ings. hen again, they refer not only to the then pres- 
ent state of these several churches, but also to things 
past, and things that were yet to happen. Furthermore, 
the references they contain to things as they then were 
are not to “‘things which are’ in general, but only in 
respect to the churches of Christ, and not to all of 
these, but to seven churches in the province of Asia. 
And finally, if we limit this clause, by reason of the 
context, to the churches of Asia, then to be consistent 
we should impose the same limitation upon the words 
‘the things which shall be hereafter’, which would be 
destructive of the futurist system. For it is clear that 
the clauses ‘‘things which are’’, and ‘“‘things which shall 
be hereafter’, are strictly parallel, the difference be- 
tween them being not at all in the nature of the 
‘things’ themselves, but solely in the time of their 
occurrence. And since the things of Chapters IV to 
XXII have nothing to do with the affairs of the seven 
churches of Pro-consular Asia, or of any churches 
whatever, it is clear that it is inadmissable to take the 
words “things which are”’ as an inspired definition of 
messages which deal with the affairs—past, present, 
and future—of the seven designated churches. What 
also bears heavily against the futurist view. of the 








38 The Patmos Visions 


words “‘things which are’, is the fact that a charge to 
‘Write’ is given to John at the beginning of each of 
the seven letters of Chapters II and III. This makes 
it highly improbable that the words, ‘‘write—the 
things which are’, had any relation to those letters. 
Therefore, in view of all this, I can but give it as my 
deep conviction that the futurist system fails com- 
pletely at this point. 

3. “And the things which shall be hereafter’. 

Here is where the futurist scheme is weakest; for it 
absolutely requires that the familiar and well-under- 
stood word “hereafter” be given a novel meaning, one 
that, so far as I am informed, it never bears. The 
word as we here find it, is unqualified by other words 
which might affect its meaning. Hence there is no jus- 
tification whatever for taking it to mean historical 
events, all of which lay in a future and far distant dis- 
pensation. For to-morrow is just as much “hereafter” 
as two thousand years hence. 

According to the futurist system, the “things which 
shall be hereafter’ are those described in Chapters IV 
to XXII. That is to say, all that is foretold in those 
chapters is to be fulfilled in the next dispensation.’ But 
it is certain that the word “hereafter”? does not have 
the effect of transporting all those things across the 
twenty centuries of our era and locating them in the 
next dispensation; and if the word “hereafter” does 
not have that effect, we shall look in vain for anything 
else capable of accomplishing such a prodigious dis- 
location. 





Outlines and Major Divisions of the Book 39 


The first verse of Chapter IV ends with the signifi- 
cant word “hereafter”. Let us carefully note what it 
says, for just here is the crux of the matter. 

“After this I looked, and behold, a door was opened 
in heaven; and the first voice that I heard was as it 
were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come 
up hither, and I will show thee things which must be 
hereafter’. 

From the last five words of this verse it is reason- 
able to infer that the visions John was now summoned 
on high to see were “the things which shall be here- 
after’, an account of which he was charged in Chapter 
1:19 to write. And here again the familiar word 
‘hereafter’ is used without any qualifying terms, and 
with nothing whatever in the context to suggest that it 
is to be understood in any other than its ordinary sense. 
The statement is plain and the meaning unambiguous. 
John was taken up to heaven “‘in the spirit” (2.2), in 
order that he might be shown things that were to be 
thereafter, that is, from that time onward. 

So far from there being anything in either the text 
or context to suggest that the word “hereafter’’ is to 
be given an extraordinary and unheard of signification, 
the fact is that the verse itself contains a sufficient rea- 
son for rejecting that idea as altogether untenable. 
For the phrase rendered “hereafter” (meta tauta) 
occurs also at the beginning of the verse, where it is 
rendered ‘‘After this”. Thus the verse begins and ends 
with identically the same phrase, a phrase which is 
capable of being expressed in English by “hereafter”, 





40 The Patmos Visions 


‘thereafter’ or ‘‘after this’, or ‘‘after these things’, 
the last being the most literal rendering. 

Now no one would maintain for a moment that the 
first meta tauta means after a lapse of several thousand 
years; and it is perfectly obvious that the passage 
affords just as much warrant for locating John’s trans- 
lation in spirit to heaven in the next dispensation, as 
for locating in that far distant day the things, and all 
of them, which he was given to see. For here we have 
a simple adverbial phrase which is twice used in the 
very same sentence. All must agree that where it first 
occurs it has its ordinary meaning, and that there is 
nothing whatever to indicate or to suggest a different 
meaning at its second occurrence. We are therefore 
bound to give it the same meaning at the end of the 
verse as at the beginning. 

It should be noted that the words of this verse do 
not state or imply that the visions John was to see 
contained future things exclusively, but only that they 
had to do mainly with future things. For when the 
visions themselves are studied it will be seen that some 
of them start from events that had already taken place, 
and from those past events as a starting point, they 
carry us on to future things. In Chapter XII, for ex- 
ample, we have a panorama of a course of events that 
has its starting point in the first chapter of Genesis. 
It is true indeed that the design of the Book is to reveal 
future things; and it will be seen that past events are 
brought in only in order that the future things may be 





Outlines and Major Divisions of the Book 41 


set in their proper place in the particular line of his- 
torical events to which they severally belong. 

Some have taken the words of Christ recorded in 
Revelation 1:19 as giving to John his complete com- 
mission for the writing of the three different parts of 
the New Testament whereof he was the scribe. They 
point out that the Gospel of John contains the things 
whereof John was an eye-witness—‘‘the things which 
thou hast seen—’’; that his Epistles deal with things 
as they were in his lifetime—‘‘things which are—’’; 
and that the Revelation contains things that were to 
happen thereafter—‘‘things which shall be hereafter’. 
This suggestion is worthy at least of thoughtful con- 
sideration; for there is nothing fanciful about it, it 
agrees with the facts, and it does no violence to the 
inspired language. 

But, taking the verse as applying solely to the Book 
of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, we have only to 
read that verse according to a construction frequently 
used in the Greek language, and in the New Testa- 
ment, in order to get a clear meaning. The point to 
be noted is that where, in English, clauses are con- 
nected by the conjunctions ‘‘both—and’’, or “‘even— 
and’’, in Greek it is ‘‘and—and”’. Thus the verse may 
with perfect propriety be rendered: ‘‘Write the things 
which thou hast seen, both (or even) the things which 
are, and also the things which shall be hereafter’. 
This construction is frequently used by the Lord, as 
recorded by John. Thus in John 4:36 we have, ‘“‘That 
both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice 





42 The Patmos Visions 


together’; and in 7:28, “Ye both know Me, and ye 
know whence I am’’; and in 15 :24, “But now have they 
both seen and hated both Me and My Father”’. 

Finally as regards this interesting point, we would 
call attention to the striking similarity between the 
commission the Lord here gives to His servant John 
from the glory, and the one which He had previously 
given Paul from the glory. For the commission given 
to Paul was likewise divided into two parts, things he 
had already seen, and things which were to be shown 
him thereafter. These are the Lord’s words to Paul: 
‘For I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to 
make thee a minister and a witness both of these things 
which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which 
I will appear unto thee’ (Acts 26:16). 

In this connection there is a distinction which must 
be carefully observed in order to a right understand- 
ing of the plan of the Book. I refer to the difference 
between the order in which the visions were seen by 
John and described by him, and the order of the hap- 
pening of the things revealed in the visions. For the 
order or sequence of the several visions shown to the 
seer is one thing, and the order or sequence of occur- 
rence of the events symbolized is another thing; and 
through failure to observe this, certain commentators 
have been led into confusion. Thus, because the vision 
of the trumpets followed that of the seals, it has been 
assumed by some that the events of the trumpet-pro- 
gram begin where those of the seals left off; and so 
with the program of the vials. But by careful exam- 





Outlines and Major Divisions of the Book 43 


ination of the several programs it will be seen that 
the distinction between the several groups is topical, 
rather than chronological. ‘That is to say, under the 
symbols of the seven seals is grouped a series of events 
of a certain character, under the trumpets another 
series of a different character, and under the vials an- 
other of a still different sort. It is evident, of course, 
that the events of each program follow in regular or- 
der, corresponding to the order in which their respec- 
tive symbols appear. That is to say, the events sym- 
bolized under the first trumpet are followed by those 
symbolized under the second, and so on to the end of 
the seven. But it does not follow that the events of 
the first trumpet come next in order after those of the 
seventh seal. On the contrary it is quite plain that the 
sixth seal brings us to the day of wrath (‘‘For the 
great day of His wrath is come’, 6:17), whereas in 
following the line of developments under the trumpets, 
the day of wrath is not reached until we come to the 
days of the voice of the seventh angel, when we have 
the announcement, “And Thy wrath is come, and the 
time of the dead that they should be judged” (11:18). 
Since therefore the seventh trumpet (“the last trump”’, 
1 Cor. 15:52) synchronizes with the sixth seal, it is 
clear that the two programs overlap, and that we must 
look for the events of the preceding six trumpets in 
the period of the first five seals. 

This important feature of the plan of the Book first 
came to my knowledge when I noticed that a distinct 
topic begins at Chapter XII, namely, God’s purpose in 





44. The Patmos Visions 


the creation of man, and that the panoramic vision of 
that chapter traces the development of that purpose, 
and the various attempts of the great Adversary to de- 
feat it, from the beginning to the end. I was thus 
led to see that in other divisions of the Book the events 
symbolized are grouped with reference to their char- 
acter, rather than with reference to time—that is to 
say, topically rather than chronologically. ‘This will ap- 
pear as we proceed; and it will be seen, I think, that 
the recognition of this feature of the plan of the Book, 
which has been pointed out by many commentators be- 
fore myself, affords material help toward the under- 
standing of its entire contents. 


THE DATE OF THE APOCALYPSE 


As to the time of the writing of the Book there is 
no need of a review of the evidence. While there has 
been some dispute about it, there appears to be ample 
support for the generally accepted view that the Book 
was written near the end of the first century, and that 
John’s banishment to the Island of Patmos was during 
the persecution that broke out in the reign of the em- 
peror Domitian, A. D. 81-95. Those who, like the 
Romanist expositors, wish to find the fulfilment of the 
judgments foretold by John in the destruction of Jeru- 
salem, seek support for the view that John’s banish- 
ment to Patmos, and the writing of the Apocalypse, 
were during the persecution that broke out in the reign 


of Nero (A. D. 54-68). But the available evidence 





Outlines and Major Divisions of the Book 45 


lends no support to that view, the motive for which 
is quite apparent. 


CHAPTER II 


The Vision of the Son of Man 


HE divisions of the first chapter of Revelation 
are clearly marked. 

Verses 1, 2 give the inspired title of the Book, 
and its source. They also declare its purpose; and tell 
how it was communicated to John, the instrument 
chosen for writing it. 

The title is, The Revelation of Jesus Christ. 

The source of this Revelation is God the Father, 
who gave it to Him. 

The Divine purpose or end to be accomplished by 
it was to show to the servants of Jesus Christ things 
which were shortly to happen. 

The channel of communication was an angel (‘His 
angel’) of whom no particular description is given. 
That this angel was a being of exalted rank and dignity 
is evident from the fact that, when his mission in re- 
spect to John had been completed, John fell down to 
worship before him. For in Chapter 22:8, John says: 
‘And I, John, saw these things and heard them. And 
when [I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship 
before the feet of the angel which showed me these 
things. Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not; 
for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren the 
prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this 
Book: worship God”. Again in 19:10, and a third 


46 


The Viston of the Son of Man 47 


time in 22:8, 9, John falls down before this revealing 
angel, to worship him, and is rebuked by him in words 
similar to those here recorded. ‘There is yet another 
reference to this revealing angel in verse 16 of Chap- 
ter 22, where the Lord Jesus Himself says: “I Jesus 
have sent Mine angel to testify unto you these things 
in the churches’. 

The human writer of the Book gives his name, 
‘John’, and clearly identifies himself as he who bore 
record of the Word of God, and of the testimony of 
Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. Thus we 
have the assurance that this Book is by the same John 
that wrote the fourth Gospel. 

There are several links in the chain whereby this 
Book reaches us. The Father gave it to Jesus Christ; 
Who commissioned His angel to bear it to John, to 
whom the angel communicated it by signs; and John 
was commanded to write it in a Book, which Book is 
now before us. 

The Promised Blessing. Verse 3. 

The book is of a character so strange, so unlike the 
other Books of the New Testament, and so difficult to 
understand, that the people of God might be disposed 
to turn away from it, and might even think it was not 
to be read by the simple believer. Therefore at the 
very beginning is a promise of blessing to him that 
readeth, and to them that hear the words of this 
prophecy, and to them that keep those things that are 
written therein. 





ee The Patmos Visions 


This blessing is a striking and important feature of 
the Book, and careful heed should be given thereto. 

The language of the verse suggests the thought that 
the Book would ordinarily be read aloud by one per- 
son (“him that readeth’’) and that others (‘‘they that 
hear’) would listen to the reading. Such would be, 
of course, the usual procedure at the beginning, and 
for many centuries thereafter; for copies of the Scrip- 
tures (all made by hand until the 16th century) were 
scarce; and the many would know their contents only 
by hearing them read aloud. In such a state of things 
there would be a natural tendency to read only favorite 
portions; hence arises the likelihood that this Book 
would suffer neglect. So we see good reason for this 
special encouragement to both reader and hearers. 

The blessing is also for them that keep the things 
written herein; the word ‘‘Keep” signifying to guard 
as by having one’s eye upon the thing to be kept, to 
hold fast to it, and not to let it get away. 

Adam Clarke makes a suggestion, in regard to the 
purpose of the Book, that is worthy of consideration. 
It is this: “That the Book of the Apocalypse may be 
considered as a prophecy continued in the Church of 
God, uttering predictions relative to all times, which 
have their fulfilment as ages roll on; and thus it stands 
in the Christian Church in the place of a succession of 
prophets in the Jewish Church; and by this especial 
economy prophecy is still continued, is always speak- 
ing, and yet a succession of prophets rendered unneces- 
sary. If this be so, we cannot too much admire the 





The Vision of the Son of Man 49 


wisdom of the contrivance which still continues the 
voice and testimony of prophecy, by means of a very 
short Book, without the assistance of any extraordinary 
messenger, or any succession of messengers, whose tes- 
timony at all times would be liable to suspicion, and 
be subject of infidel and malevolent criticism, howso- 
ever unexceptional to ingenuous minds the succession 
might appear.” 

If this be indeed the design of the Book, it is clear 
that it is frustrated in large measure by postponing 
the fulfilment of the major part thereof (all after 
Chapter III) to a time when the people of God will 
be no longer on earth. 

Furthermore, it is evident that neglect of the Book 
would have been of little moment if the fulfilment of 
the prophecies written therein was not to begin for 
several thousand years. Hence the exhortation to 
read, to hear and to keep the things written in this 
Book, is coupled with a reason which seems to have 
been added for the very purpose of dispelling the idea 
that there was to be delay in the fulfilment of the words 
of this prophecy; the reason for the exhortation being 
that “the time is at hand’. 

In these words there is a manifestly intended con- 
trast with the command given to Daniel concerning the 
visions seen by him. For he was bidden to “‘shut up 
the words and seal the book, even to the time of the 
end” (Dan. 12:4). But John is not to seal the de- 
scription of his visions, for the time thereof was not 
far off; it was near. 





50 The Patmos Vistons 


What might be the nature of the promised blessing 
of verse 3 is not stated; but the fact that the promise 
is not specific makes it all the larger. The blessing is 
repeated at Chapter 22:7 in the words: ‘Behold, I 
come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of 
the prophecy of this book’. 

This ‘‘Blessed”’ is the first of a complete series of 
seven beatitudes found in this Book, which marks it 
as a characteristic feature of the Book, and adds to its 
impressiveness. ‘This is the series :— 

Chap. 1:3, “Blessed is he that readeth”’ etc. 

Chap. 14:13, “Blessed are the dead that die in the 
Lord from henceforth’’. 

Chap. 16:15, “Blessed is he that watcheth and Oe 
eth his garments’. 

Chap. 19:9, “Blessed are they which are called unto 
the marriage supper of the Lamb’”’. 

Chap. 20:6, “Blessed and holy is he that hath part 
in the first resurrection’. 

Chap. 22:7, “Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings 
of the prophecy of this book’’. 

Chap. 22:15, “Blessed are they that do his com- 
mandments’’. 


The Address to the Seven Churches. Verses 4, 5. 

This is most impressive. Never was a communica- 
tion from Deity itself given with such a setting forth 
of the majesty and glory of the Source whence it came. 
John conveys to the seven churches which are in Asia 
“Grace and peace’’—grace, the largeness of God’s 








The Viston of the Son of Man 51 


favor in all its manifold expressions; and peace, the 
Divine security, tranquillity and prosperity—from the 
Triune God. This benediction proceeds from— 

“Him which is, and which was, and which is to come; 
and from— 

“The Seven Spirits which are before His throne; 
and from— 

“Jesus Chirst, the Faithful Witness, the First-be- 
gotten of the dead, and the Prince of the Kings of the 
earth,” 

This solemn and majestic presentation of the Per- 
sons of the Godhead as the Source of the benediction, 
standing as it does at the forefront of the Book, should 
deeply impress our hearts with the awful majesty of 
the Supreme Being, and cause us to realize that here 
we are indeed upon holy ground. 

1. God is here presented as the eternally self- 
existent One, the words, ‘‘He Who is, and Who was, 
and Who is to come”, being an amplified statement of 
the ineffable Name of Exodus 3:14. It is there ren- 
dered, “I AM THAT I AM” but the sense of eternal 
existence, past and future, is implied in the original 
Hebrew words. 


“The idea of pure, absolute, unchangeable existence, as ex- 
pressed in the name Jehovah, is quite a practical one. The 
people of Israel, in asking for His name, were to find in it a 
pledge and security for what was to be performed by Him, for 
His wonderful help in the most distressful circumstances; not 
what would merely satisfy their metaphysical curiosity. The 
name Jehovah comprises in itself the fulness of all consolation, 
and the treasures thereof are here brought up from their depths 


52 The Patmos Visions 


and are placed before the eyes of believers, the seer’s companions 
in the Kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ. Against this 
Rock of the pure, unchangeable, absolute Being of God, dash 
all the despairing thoughts of those happy ones who can call 
this God their own, as also all the proud thoughts of the world 
which has Him for its enemy” (Hengstenberg). 


2. ‘The Holy Spirit, Who is next mentioned, is set 
forth as “The seven Spirits which are before His 
throne” (see Chap. 4:5). Inasmuch as the Lord Jesus 
Christ is the immediate Source of this revelation, He 
puts the Father and the Holy Spirit before Himself. 
That the Holy Spirit, the “One Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:13; 
Eph. 4:4) is here, and also in Chap. 4:5, referred to 
as the “Seven Spirits,’’ reminds us that numbers, as 
well as other familiar things, are used in this Book not 
in their ordinary sense, but as symbols; and we must be 
careful to read them as such. This caution is most 
necessary. 

The significance of the number seven, which occurs 
so often in this Book as to make it one of the dis- 
tinguishing features thereof, is easily perceived. It 
signifies fullness or completeness. Here it is the full- 
ness of the Holy Spirit. The third Person of the God- 
head, in the plenitude of His Being, unites with the 
Father and the Son in this message of grace and peace 
to the churches. ‘‘The sevenfoldness does no violence 
to the unity. It merely points to the fullness and va- 
riety of the powers that are embraced in the unity”. 

Such being the significance of the phrase “seven 
Spirits”, we are warranted in assuming that the paral- 


The Vision of the Son of Man 53 


lel phrase, “seven churches’’, in the same verse, is to 
be taken as embracing all the churches of that time 
and of all times subsequent; these making in their to- 
tality “one body”. For in Ephesians 4:4 mention is 
made of the “one body’’, as well as of the ‘one Spirit”’. 

3. The Lord Jesus Christ is presented in a three- 
fold way: first, as the ‘Faithful Witness”, which re- 
fers to what He was in the days of His flesh (John 
Pst 839.17:25 5018337 ‘etc.)\s, second, as the) **First-be- 
gotten of the dead’’, which refers to what He now is 
inpresurrecttons (1 Cors152203' Coli h:18) si third) as 
‘‘the Prince of the Kings of the earth’ (Psa. 89:28), 
which refers to the character in which He will be man- 
ifested at His second coming (Chap. 19:16). 

All these three designations of our Lord describe 
Him in His humanity, and in His relation manward. 
It is “the Revelation of Jesus Christ’’ we are studying; 
and that Revelation begins with a three-fold presenta- 
tion of the ‘‘One Mediator between God and men, the 
Man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5). As Man He was 
the Faithful witness; as Man He is the First-born from 
the dead, the First-fruits of them that slept; and as 
Man He will reign over men, both over the nations, 
and over the kings of the earth (Rey. 21:24). But 
this Revelation of Jesus Christ does not stop with 
what He was, and is, and will be as Man. It goes on 
immediately, and in no uncertain terms, to reveal Him 
in His eternal Deity (vv. 8 and 11). 

The Ascription of Praise. Verses 5, 6. 





54 The Patmos Visions 


The ascription does not in terms embrace the Father 
or the Holy Spirit, but is addressed to Christ alone. 
For its theme is redemption. Like the description of 
the Lord Jesus Christ, it is three-fold: ‘Unto Him 
that loved us (or better, /oveth us), and washed us 
from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us 
kings and priests unto God and (or even) His Father; 
to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. 
Amen.” 

These words, apart from their immediate purpose, 
which is to lead out our hearts in worship and adora- 
tion to Him who has done such great things for us and 
at such cost to Himself, are of much value in the 
interpretation of the symbols of the four living crea- 
tures and the four and twenty elders of Chapters IV 
and V. Hence they give light as to the entire scene 
pictured to us in those chapters. This will appear 
later on. 

The Outlook of the Prophecy. Verse 7. 

“Behold, He cometh.’ The coming of Jesus Christ 
in visible power and glory is everywhere in the New 
Testament presented as an impending event, a thing 
for which His people were to be ever looking, waiting, 
and watching. The added words, ‘‘with clouds’, are 
in the first place indicative of His Deity. Again and 
again it is written, ‘“The Lorp went before them in the 
pillar of a cloud”; ‘‘the Lorp appeared in the cloud”: 
“the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle” (Ex. 
13:21; 16:10; 40:38 etc.). So at the Transfiguration, 
‘A bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a 





The Vision of the Son of Man 56 


voice out of the cloud” (Mat. 17:5). Furthermore, 
those words recall His own saying as to His coming 
again ‘‘in the clouds of heaven” (Mat. 24:30; 26:24 
etc.). And finally they identify Him as the Being seen 
by Daniel—the One like a Son of man, coming with 
the clouds of heaven (Dan. 13). But the clouds also 
are a shadow of judgment to come; and that thought 
is prominent here, as the succeeding clauses of the sen- 
tence clearly show. 

“And every eye Shall see Him”. It is a part of 
God’s plan for the future that every child of Adam’s 
race shall have at least one look at Him who gave 
Himself a ransom for all. That sight will be the su- 
preme bliss of those who have believed on His Name; 
but it will be a moment of indescribable terror for those 
who have despised such dearly bought mercy as that 
which the gospel offers free to all. ‘This is indicated 
by the dismay of those unrepentant and unpardoned 
ones who, at the opening of the sixth seal, are seen 
seeking a hiding place in the dens and rocks, and crying 
to the mountains to fall upon them and hide them from 
the wrath of the Lamb (6:15, 16). 

“And they which pierced Him’. These are singled 
out for special mention; and it is added that “all 
kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him’. For 
to every nation of earth the offer of salvation through 
His Name will have been made, and by all refused. 
We have here a repetition of what was prophesied by 
the Lord through Zechariah, in the words, ‘‘And they 
shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they 


56 The Patmos Visions 


shall mourn for Him as one mourneth for his only 
son) (Zech. 12°10): and \ofowhatethew lord, Jésus 
Christ Himself predicted: ‘‘And then shall appear the 
sign of the Son of man in heaven; and then shall all 
the tribes of the earth mourn; and they shall see the 
Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power 
and great glory’ (Matt. 24:30). The words, ‘“‘all 
kindreds of the earth,’’ show that it is the final judg- 
ment of the whole world which is here in view. 

The Lord and His Servant. Verses 8 and 9. 

In verse 8 the Lord declares His Name (as He de- 
clared it to Moses in Exodus 3 :14, to which passage we 
have already referred) saying: “I AM Alpha and 
Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, which is, and 
was, and which is to come, the Almighty”. In assum- 
ing this Name He claims what is declared of Him in 
Colossians 1:16, 17; and 2:9: “For by Him were all 
things created, that are in heaven, and that are in 
earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or 
dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were 
created by Him, and for Him: and He ts before all 
things, and by Him all things consist (i. e. stand to- 
gether, ct. Heb. 1:3, “upholding all things by the word 
of His power’’). ‘‘For in Him dwelleth all the fulness 
of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2:9). 

These words of the risen Lord Jesus Christ are an 
unqualified claim to completest and supremest Deity. 
And considering them particularly as a part of “the 
revelation of Jesus Christ”, we would specially note 
two things: 





The Viston of the Son of Man 57 


1. The Lord here reveals Himself as the eternally 
self-existent One, that being the force of the words 
“T AM”, or (as here more fully expressed) ‘Who is 
and Who was and Who is to come’’. None but the 
self-existing God can say “I AM” in this sense; for no 
creature exists of himself, or has life in himself. Every 
creature’s life is dependent upon that which is outside 
himself, and which he can lay hold of only by the will 
of God. ‘Thus the life of a man, which is the highest 
form of life known to us, is dependent moment by 
moment upon the oxygen of the atmosphere, and from 
day to day upon food and drink; it being entirely be- 
yond his power to supply himself with these essential 
things. Man’s life is both derived from an external 
source, and is also dependent upon regular supplies 
from an external source. But Jesus Christ has ‘‘life in 
Himself” (John 5:26). MWHence that profound truth, 
‘He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not 
Son of God hath not life’ (1 J. 5:12). 

2. In the verse we are considering, the Lord de- 
clares Himself not only as the self-existent One, but 
also as the Revealer. Alpha and Omega are the first 
and last letters of the alphabet of the language in 
which the New Testament is given to us. Therefore 
as the whole of the writing known as ‘“The New 
Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ’’ is 
embraced and comprehended between those two letters, 
so God’s revelation of Himself, and of His purposes, 
and of His mind for us, is embraced and comprehended, 
and is brought within our reach in the Person of the 





58 The Patmos Visions 


incarnate, crucified and resurrected One, Jesus Christ. 
He is “the Word of God’. In Him God is ‘‘mani- 
fested’”’. 

Verse 8 begins “I AM Alpha and Omega, the First 
and the last’’; whereas verse 9 begins, “I, John, who 
also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, 
and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ.” 
What a contrast is presented by these two verses! And 
what a difference is put between the Lord of glory and 
that beloved disciple who, in the days of His flesh, 
leaned upon His breast! Have we not in this contrast 
and in this great difference indeed a “revelation of 
Jesus Christ’? 

That most favored servant and beloved disciple is 
but one of ourselves; and the Holy Spirit would have 
us to realize this and enjoy the comfort of it. The man 
who was given to see those wonderful visions is our 
“brother,” and our “‘companion in tribulation”. In- 
deed it was in the very season of his sufferings that 
Christ appeared to Him. And is it not in the times of 
our tribulation also, rather than in seasons of earthly 
ease and enjoyment, that He draws near to us? Would 
any of those who love Him shrink from even the sorest 
trial if he knew that the Lord was waiting to reveal 
Himself in the midst of it? 

John was also inspired to describe himself as our 
companion “in the kingdom and patience of Jesus 
Christ”. This phrase is deeply significant, and it has 
an important bearing upon the design of the Book as 
a whole. It brings home to us our personal interest 


oe RE ESR ET = SEE ACO MRSS PRE ORT ESES SET 8 STE ROUTERS TTS TICES OD 


The Viston of the Son of Man 59 


and share in the revelations here given us. A “com- 
panion” (a word found only in the writings of Paul, 
and here in this passage) is one who shares or par- 
takes of something along with others. We are the 
fellow-sharers with John in tribulation, and in the king- 
dom and patience of Jesus Christ. “The Kingdom of 
Jesus Christ existed in the days of John, and it exists 
today. John and those whom he addressed directly 
were in it then. We are in it now. It has existed on 
earth from that day untilnow. And this Revelation of 
Jesus Christ has to do with the history of that King- 
dom and the experiences of those who are in itt. 

It is deeply to be regretted that the company of the 
people of God in the world has come to be spoken of 
almost invariably as “‘the church of God”. We read 
and hear of the history of the church, the trials of the 
church, the conflicts of the church, the triumphs of the 
church, etc., etc. But the Scripture does not so speak. 
That which has a continued existence on earth through- 
out this dispensation, is not “the church of God’’, but 
“the Kingdom of God” and the misapplication of the 
name church for kingdom is not only a great mistake, 
but a great misfortune; for the truth has suffered much 
in consequence. Let it be noted, then, in the interest 
of verbal accuracy and of all that depends thereon, 
that the Church of God in the collective sense (Mat. 
16:18, Eph. 1:22 etc.) is not on earth, indeed is not 
in existence as a complete thing in this dispensation. 
For it is in process of formation; and furthermore but 
a tiny fraction of its membership is on earth at any one 





60 The Patmos Visions 


time. What does exist on earth in this era is, col- 
lectively, the kingdom of God (into which every saved 
person is immediately translated, Col. 1:12) and 
locally the numerous churches of God (note the 
plural). May it not have been in anticipation of this 
very error in the use of the word church, that we have 
the sevenfold repetition of the words, ‘‘what the Spirit 
saith unto (not the church, as nearly everyone would 
now say, but) the churches?” And that in Chapter 
22:16, the Lord says, “I Jesus have sent mine angel 
to testify unto you these things in the churches’? 
Certainly there is a great difference between the 
church (in the collective sense) and the churches. And 
certainly also we can avoid much confusion and error 
by the simple rule of using the words of Scripture al- 
ways with their scriptural meanings. 

In considering the passage now before us, it should 
be noted that the same three things so singularly joined 
together here (tribulation, kingdom, and patience) are 
similarly united in Acts 14:22, where it is recorded con- 
cerning Paul and Barnabas that they confirmed the 
souls of the brethren, exhorting them to continue in the 
faith, and that through much tribulation we must enter 
into the Kingdom of God. So likewise in setting be- 
fore us the Kingdom in which grace reigns, Paul says 
that tribulation worketh patience (Rom. 5:3; 8:23, 
PAY 


“The things mentioned are singularly woven together. The 
Kingdom stands in the middle, the tribulation before, and the 
patience after. ‘This is the form of Christianity in this life. 





The Viston of the Son of Man 61 


Through the tribulation the Kingdom is pervaded with the 
patience of Christ, till the tribulation shall have been overcome, 
and no more patience shall be required. With carnal men, who 
have not entered into the Kingdom of Christ, tribulation brings 
no patience, but rather causes irritation. A wild beast, if not 
irritated, may be as quiet as a lamb; but when anything has 
excited it, it breaks forth in its fury” (Bengel). 


The vision on the Lord’s Day. Verses 10-16. 

We now come to John’s description of the first of 
his visions. It is, most appropriately and significantly, 
a vision of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and in His 
glorified humanity; for He appeared as one “‘like unto 
the Son of man’. This was a “revelation of Jesus 
Christ’’ indeed, and such as the eye of mortal man had 
never beheld. 

As to the circumstances in which this wondrous 
vision was seen, John mentions two things. First, he 
was “in the spirit’, that is to say, he had passed out of 
the state or condition of normal human consciousness, 
into that supernormal state wherein spiritual things are 
perceived. It is an experience known to the prophets 
of old (Ez. 2:2 etc.). In that state Peter beheld the 
vision of the great sheet let down from heaven, (Ac. 
10:10-15). In that state Paul was caught up to the 
third heaven, and there heard unutterable words (2 
Cor. 12: 1-4). So likewise it was with John’s second 
vision (Rev. 4:2) ; and hence presumably with all the 
“rest. 

Second, it was “on the Lord’s day”. Those who 
hold the futurist system would make this mean the 
Day of the Lord. That is, they would understand 





62 | The Patmos Visions 


—_—_————_. 


John as saying that he was carried forward in the spirit 
into the future era in order that he might behold things 
which are to happen in that great and terrible day. 
So likewise the Seventh Day Adventists expound it; 
though for a different and obvious reason. But 
against this there is, first of all, the objection that it is 
a strained construction; and further the expression is a 
different one from that which is everywhere used to 
designate the Day of the Lord (Ac. 2:20; 1 Cor. 1:8; 
Dos oe WCOt wl A ee eet ers 1 ordinal nesksos) ment ints 
difference must be regarded as decisive. But in addi- 
tion, the vision which John then beheld does not belong 
to the Day of the Lord. Beyond all question, and as 
all are fully agreed, the vision of Christ in the midst 
of the candlesticks is a vision of this present dispensa- 
tion, wherein the churches of Christ are set as lights 
shining in the spiritual darkness of the world. This is 
a fatal objection to the idea that “the Lord’s day” 
is equivalent to ‘“‘the Day of the Lord”. On the other 
hand, it is known from early christian writings that 
the first day of the week received the designation “the 
Lord’s day” from a time very close to the beginning of 
the era; and we have in this verse a proof that it had 
begun to be so designated ere the last of the apostles 
and scribes of the Bible had finished his labors, 


“The key to the right understanding of the Lord’s day,” says 
Hengstenberg, “is supplied by verse 5, where Christ js called 
the first begotten from the dead, and by verse 18, where likewise 
reference is made to the resurrection as the pledge that He will 
quicken His people out of death. These passages prove (1) 





The Geiss of the Son of Man 63 


that the Lord’s day is the day of resurrection, that being the 
day on which Christ was manifested above all others as Lord 
(Comp. Rom. 1:4); (2) that it was so named not because of 
what the church should do on that day, but because of what the 
Lord did on it’’. 


Being thus “‘ in the spirit on the Lord’s day,” John 
heard behind him a great voice, as of atrumpet. ‘That 
voice, having the loudness and clearness of a trumpet, 
he heard again when summoned to heaven to behold 
the succeeding visions (4:1). It reminds us of the 
great happenings at Mt. Sinai, when the Lord ap- 
peared in a vail of cloud and fire, and when “‘the voice 
of the trumpet exceeding loud” struck terror to the 
hearts of those that heard it (Ex. 19:16; 20:18; Heb. 
12 319.\, 

The Voice was that of the Lord Jesus Himself; and 
the words John heard were these: “I AM Alpha and 
Omega, the First and the Last’; and then came the 
command: ‘‘What thou seest, write in a book, and send 
it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto 
Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and 
unto [hyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, 
and unto Laodicea’’. 

The word ‘‘what thou seest, write in a book”’ should 
be taken as inclusive of all that John was to see in 
supernatural vision; for the ‘“‘book”’ he was to write is 
presumably this Book of the Revelation of Jesus 
Christ.* The seven churches of Asia, already men- 





* But some take this command of the Lord to John as covering also his 
Gospel and Epistles, and this view has something to commend and support it. 
Others again would limit it to this present vision, and claim that ‘‘the book’’ 
means merely the messages to the churches. 





64. The Patmos Visions 


tioned in verse 4, are now named individually. Upon 
referring to a map of Asia Minor it will be seen that 
the seven cities thus designated, when regarded as a 
group, form a sort of irregular circle; and that if we 
go from one to another, beginning at Ephesus, they 
occur geographically in the precise order in which they 
are here named, this being also the order in which 
they are severally addressed in Chapters II and III. 
This presents to the mind’s eye a most impressive and 
significant picture. ‘There stands ‘‘in the midst’’ the 
glorified Redeemer. He is solitary in His grandeur 
and majesty. ‘he seven golden candlesticks that en- 
circle Him represent all the churches of all the cen- 
turies, and of all parts of the world. And as He turns 
from one to the other, beginning at Ephesus and ending 
at Laodicea, He sends the message—‘‘what the Spirit 
is saying to the churches’’—to every point of the com- 
pass, and to every part of the world. It is a picture of 
incomparable grandeur. May the reader and the 
writer be among those “‘blessed’’ ones that have ‘‘an 
ear to hear’. 

That this scene is laid in the midst of the province 
of Asia is significant. The center of God’s dealings 
had been the earthly Jerusalem; and the first of ‘“‘the 
churches of God’, whence the word had gone forth to 
all the world, was there. But when this vision was 
given, Jerusalem on earth was no longer the center of 
God’s interests and operations in the world. In fact 
it had been blotted out by the armies of Rome, which 
executed the vengeance of God upon the apostate city. 





The Vision of the Son of Man 65 


For at the time of this vision, the prophecy of the 
destruction of Jerusalem, which Christ had spoken in 
His parable of the wedding supper (Mat. 22:7), had 
been fulfilled. According to that parable, the Jews 
would reject the invitation of the gospel, and some 
would ill treat the bearers of the gospel message, even 
putting them to death. And the parable ends with the 
prophetic words: “But when the King heard thereof, 
he was wroth; and he sent forth his armies, and de-. 
stroyed those murderers, and burned up their city”’ 
Civiatige 2x3) 3 

Furthermore, we observe that this circle of churches 
lay in what had been the theater of the principal labors 
of the apostle Paul. They were the earliest recipients 
of the teaching which the Lord had given through that 
chosen vessel, first by word of mouth, and then by 
letters. ‘That group, therefore, was, in actual historic 
fact, the center from which the doctrine of Christ, ‘‘the 
whole counsel of God’’, that Paul had been prompt to 
declare, spread to every part of the world. A good 
many years had now passed since Paul had finished his 
course, probably forty or thereabouts; and from 
Christ's message to Ephesus can be seen the spiritual 
decline that had already taken place. Indeed, as we 
read the seven messages to those churches of Asia, we 
cannot fail to realize that the freshness and spirituality 
of apostolic days were already past, and that the Lord 
was here speaking in full view of conditions that have 
prevailed down to our own days. NHence these mes- 
sages are by no means obsolete. 





66 The Patmos Vistons 


The great Voice which John heard was behind him; 
and continuing, he says: ‘‘And I turned to see the voice 
that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven 
golden candlesticks; and in the midst of the seven 
candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with 
a garment down to the foot, and girt about the breasts 
with a golden girdle’. ‘ 

Stress is laid upon John’s change of attitude. It 
was only after ‘‘being turned’? that he saw the won- 
drous vision and received the Lord’s message. The 
thought this suggests is that we, too, have our spiritual 
gaze turned often in the wrong direction, and hence do 
not see the Lord in His majesty. We recall the grac- 
ious promise, “And thine ears shall hear a word behind 
thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it” (Isa. 
S021). | 

From this point onward the Book is written in the 
language of symbols; and this we must keep ever in 
mind, else we shall quickly lose our way and find our- 
selves in a region of mysteries. The seven golden 
candlesticks that John saw were the symbols of things 
which, in appearance, bear no resemblance at all to 
candlesticks. But as to this particular symbol we have 
the explanation from the Lord Himself (v. 20) ; and 
His explanation of the meaning of candlesticks (or 
lampstands) and of stars, serves also to indicate the 
principle upon which all the symbols of the Book are 
to be explained. 

The Lord Jesus Christ as here seen by John was 
“like unto a Son of man”. This refers to Daniel 7:13, 





The Vision of the Son of Man 67 


where the seer says: “I saw in the night visions and 
behold, one like the Son of man’’; and he goes on to 
say, “And there was given him dominion, and glory, 
and a kingdom, that all people, nations and languages 
should serve him’. Thus He is seen in His glorified 
humanity; and the expression implies His Deity; for 
if He was like a Son of man, then in His true Being He 
must be far higher. 

The garment in which He appeared, a robe flowing 
down even to the feet, was the sign not only of the 
priestly office, but of the kingly as well; and the whole 
of the description that follows exhibits Christ as King 
and Judge. Both the long robe and the golden girdle 
have reference to the one seen by Daniel, whose body 
was like the beryl, his face as the appearance of light- 
ning, his eyes as lamps of fire, and his voice like that 
of a multitude (Dan. 10:5, 6). On this passage 
Bengel remarks: “‘A King is more exalted than a priest. 
Hence Scripture speaks much oftener of the kingdom 
than of the priesthood of Christ’. And as regards the 
girdle about the breast, he says: ‘One who is busy 
girds himself about the loins (Isa. 11:5). But he 
who girds himself about the breast must be in a state 
of dignified repose. Jesus, by His sufferings and 
death, has overcome all. What profound reverence 
should fill our hearts before this incomparable maj- 
esty!” We recall the Scripture: ‘‘For he (Christ) that 
is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his 
own works’’—those necessary for our salvation—‘‘as 


God did from his”? (Heb. 4:10). 


68 The Patmos Visions 


We gather, therefore, that the manner of the 
Lord’s appearance to John was designed not to indicate 
His present office of intercessor, but rather to impress 
upon the seer, and upon all who should read and pon- 
der this description, the transcendent importance of the 
things revealed in these visions. God’s messages to 
the prophets were commonly brought and communi- 
cated by angels (Heb. 2:2); but this was brought by 
the glorified Lord in all His royal dignity and glory. 
Its importance therefore is correspondingly great. 

The description given of Christ is wholly in symbolic 
language; moreover it consists of seven distinct items. 
Therefore it is highly mystical; and in meditating upon 
its several features. we must exclude from our minds 
all thought of physical resemblance, and seek for a 
perception of moral likenesses only. 

Of the Lord’s appearance in the days of His 
humiliation we have no description at all; no, not so 
much as a line. It is one of the marvels of the Gospels 
that with all the intense love and the devotion the 
writers had for Christ, not one line did they write con- 
cerning any detail of His personal appearance. This 
would have been impossible if their writing had not 
been divinely controlled and inspired. All pictures 
of Jesus of Nazareth are therefore wholly the work 
of the human imagination. We have not the faintest 
idea as to His appearance in the days of His flesh. 
God has seen to it that there should be no representa- 
tion of Him as He looked when ‘‘He took the form of 
a servant’, and was ‘“‘found in fashion as a man’. But 








The Vision of the Son of Man 69 


here, as risen from the dead and glorified, a description 
is given, whereof the completeness is indicated by its 
seven-fold character. | 
The order in which these seven features of our 
Lord’s appearance are presented is noteworthy. ‘The 
following arrangement will represent them to the eye; 
and it will be seen that they are in pairs, grouped about 
the Voice, which has the central place, like the central 
stem of the seven-branched candlestick of the Taber- 
nacle and Temple in its relation to the three pairs of 
branches. 
1. Heap and Hairs white like wool, white as snow; 
2. Eyes as a flame of fire; 
3. FEET like fine copper glowing in a furnace; 
4. VoIceE as the sound of many waters; 
5. Ricut Hanp holding seven stars; 
6. Moutu from which issues a sharp sword; 
7. COUNTENANCE as the sun, shining in full strength. 
Next to the Voice, of which John makes special men- 
tion, we have on one side the Feet and on the other the 
Right Hand; next to these on one side the Eyes from 
which issued a flame of fire, and on the other the 
Mouth from which issued a sharp sword; and next to 
these on one side the Head and Hairs, lustrous white, 
and on the other the Countenance shining as the sun 
in the fullness of its strength. It is a picture far be- 
yond the power of the human imagination to conceive. 
Small wonder that John, upon seeing it, “fell at His 
feet as dead’. 





70 The Patmos Visions 


Much time could be profitably occupied in medi- 
tating upon these seven descriptive symbols; but inas- 
much as their significance has been often pointed out by 
writers gifted with spiritual discernment, we limit our- 
self to a brief word on each feature. 

1. The whiteness of the Head and Hairs symbol- 
izes the eternal Being of God. The same symbol is 
used of the “Ancient of Days’’, seen by Daniel on the 
throne of heaven, ‘‘Whose garment was white as snow, 
and the Hair of His Head like pure wool” (Dan. 7:9). 
The color white is itself a symbol, the identical word 
being used sixteen times in the Apocalypse, and as a 
derivative once. It signifies invariably something per- 
taining to Christ or to His people. It is the dazzling 
whiteness of light. It gives the idea of glittering splen- 
dor. It is the symbolical representation of the glory. 
The words, ‘“O Father, glorify Me with Thine own 
self, with the glory which I had with Thee before the 
world was” (Jn. 17:5), correspond in meaning. 

2. The Eyes like a flame of fire indicate Him as the 
One from whom nothing is hid, “‘Who searcheth the 
reins and heart” (2:24; Jer. 17:10 etc.). This is a 
strong assertion of His Deity. 

3. Feet like unto fine brass (or copper), glowing as 
with the intense heat of a furnace, mark Him as the 
One who in judgment will tread the wine-press of the 
wrath of God and trample His enemies under His feet 
(19:15; Isa. 63:3). Brass (i. e. copper) is associated 
with the judgment of God, as in the case of the brazen 
altar. When the Lord appeared to Ezekiel in visions 





The Vision of the Son of Man 71 


foretelling judgment on Jerusalem, the feet of the 
cherubim which supported His throne were “‘like the 
color of burnished brass” (Ezek. 1:7). 

4. When the glory of the God of Israel appeared 
to Ezekiel ‘“‘His voice was like the noise of many 
waters” (Ezek. 43:2). So we have in this feature a 
mark that identifies the Lord Jesus Christ as the God 
of Israel, the One whose voice produced such fear and 
awe in the hearts of the people of Israel at Mount 
Sinai. ‘There is an indescribable majesty, and a tone 
of irresistible might and authority in the sound of the 
rush of waters. 

5. The Right Hand is the hand where a man’s 
strength and skill reside. In the song of triumph at 
the Red Sea, Israel sang: ‘Thy right hand, O LORD, 
is become glorious in power; Thy right hand, O 
LORD, hath dashed the enemy in pieces” (Ex. 15:6; 
Ps. 118:15, 16). Many other scriptures show the sig- 
nificance of this symbol. The Lord saves by His 
right hand (Psa. 17:7). It is the hand “of power” 
(Mat. 26:64). In Bible language, to have a thing in 
one’s hand means to have it under one’s power. To 
Noah and his sons God said, concerning all the beasts, 
fowl, and fishes: “into your hand are they delivered”’ 
(Gen. 9:2). Moses in his final blessing said: ‘‘All 
His saints are in Thy hand” (Dt. 33:3). David 
addresses the Lord in these terms: ‘“‘But I trusted in 
Thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my God; my times 
are in Thy hand” (Ps. 31:14, 15). And Christ says 
of His sheep: “Neither shall any man pluck them out 


72 The Patmos Visions 


of My hand” (John 10:28). Therefore, by the vision 
of the Lord Jesus Christ holding the seven stars, which 
represent the angels of the seven churches, in His right 
hand, we are given to understand that all His churches 
are ever in His protecting care, as well as under His 
absolute power; and that He will both preserve and 
also govern them. 

6. His Mouth out of which goes a sharp two-edged 
sword. 

The reference here is primarily to Isaiah 49:1, 2, 
where the Spirit of Christ, speaking through the 
prophet, says: ‘From the bowels of My mother He 
hath made mention of My name. And He hath made 
My mouth like a sharp sword’. There is a clear refer- 
ence to this passage in the Lord’s message to Per- 
gamos: “Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, 
and will fight again them with the sword of My mouth”’ 
(Rev. 2:16). The word of God is called in Ephesians 
6:17 “The sword of the Spirit”; and in Hebrews 4:12 
it is declared that ‘“The word of God is quick (i. e. 
living) and powerful, and sharper than any two- 
edged sword”. ‘The Word of His Mouth is spirit and 
life to them that receive it (John 6:63); but to them 
that reject it, it is a sword of judgment; for He has 
said, ““The word that I have spoken, the same shall 
judge him in the last day” (John 12:48). In agree- 
ment with this, the vision of Chapter 19:11-21 shows 
Him coming forth for judgment; and there again it 
is recorded that “His eyes were as a flame of fire’, 
(penetrating all “the secrets of men” Rom. 2:16), 





The Vision of the Son of Man rics 


and that “Out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, 
that with it He should smite the nations”. 

7. His Countenance as the sun shining in _ his 
strength. The sun is the supreme light-giver of the 
physical world. So Christ is the supreme Light-giver 
of the spiritual world. In the description of the eter- 
nal city it is said that “the city had no need of the sun, 
neither of the moon to shine in it; for the glory of 
God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof” 
PRev,121+23),48 Lhis)tsi the true eight) ohnidi:9)): 
It is the Light that shines in the heart of the man who 
repents and believes the gospel. ‘For God’, says the 
apostle, ‘‘Who commanded light to shine out of dark- 
ness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the 
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus 
Christ’? (2 Cor. 4:6). The one who wrote the words 
last quoted tells of the occasion when that Light shone 
in full strength upon him; for in his defence before 
King Herod Agrippa he testified, saying: ‘“‘At midday, 
O King, I saw in the way a Light from heaven, above 
the brightness of the sun, shining round about me”’ 
(ACH 26213)):; 

Such, in rapid summary, is the seven-fold description 
of the glorified Son of man, the like of which is not to 
be found in any book, in any language. For the heart 
of man could not have conceived of such a blending and 
grouping together of transcendent powers and glories. 
Indeed the heart of man cannot even receive the picture 
when presented to him, any more than the eye could 
bear the glory of that light. For this is the Holy 


74. The Patmos Visions 


Spirit’s portrait of Him who is the effulgence of the 
Father’s glory, and the express image of His Person 
(Heb. 1:3). Various features of this sevenfold por- 
trait appear in different connections in subsequent 
parts of the Book. But only here are they all presented 
together. 

There are, of course, no words of our language 
whereby the glories and beauties of the risen Redeemer 
could be described, and nothing within the sphere of 
human knowledge to which He could be compared. 
For the question still remains without answer, ‘“To 
whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye 
compare unto Him?” (Isa. 40:18). ‘This, men are 
forbidden even to attempt; and the Holy Spirit knows 
the impossibility of doing it. Hence He puts before us 
this amazing group of symbols, that they may speak to 
us, so far as we can receive it, of the ineffable glories 
which will be revealed in that day when, transformed 
into His own likeness, ‘‘we shall see Him as He 1s” 
(1 Jn. 3:2). For “when Christ, who is our life, shall be 
manifested, then shall ye also be manifested with Him 
in glory” (Col. 3:4). 

The effect upon John, and the Mandate given him. 
Verses 17-19. 

The effect of this vision upon John was overpower- 
ing. He states it in few and simple words, which bear 
the plain impress of truth, the words being very differ- 
ent from what would be used by one who was describ- 
ing an imaginary event :—‘‘And when I saw Him I fell 
at His feet as dead”. Thereupon the Lord laid His 





The Vision of the Son of Man Pils 


right hand, that same hand of power, upon him, and 
uttered the divine, ‘“‘Fear not’’. 

Here again is a marked likeness between John’s ex- 
perience and that of Daniel, the differences being just 
sufficient to show that the beloved disciple of the New 
Testament was not copying from ‘“‘the man greatly 
beloved” of the Old. For when Daniel saw the One 
clothed in linen and girded with gold, whose face was 
as lightning and His eyes as lamps of fire, and the voice 
of His words like the voice of a multitude, he too was 
completely overcome. “There remained no strength 
in me’, he says; “‘yet I heard the voice of his words; 
and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I in 
a deep sleep on my face, and my face toward the 
ground. And, behold, a hand touched me, and set 
me upon my knees, and upon the palms of my hands” 
(Dan. 10:7-10). ‘And Daniel too heard the quicken- 
ing words, “Fear not; peace be unto thee; be strong, 
Veasverstrong )(v. 19), 

And now again, for the third time in this short 
chapter, the risen Christ asserts His eternal Being say- 
ing, “I AM the First and the Last; He that liveth, and 
was dead; and behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen”’. 
And after this reiterated assertion of His right to the 
incommunicable Name, He declares His victory and 
lordship over death and the nether world, saying, ‘And 
have the keys of hell and of death’’. 

The words, “I AM the first and the last”, express 
what is included in full Godhead, as appears from 
Isaiah 44:6, ‘I am the first and the last, and beside 


76 The Patmos Visions 


Me there is no God”. ‘The assertion that He is the 
first refers to the creation of the world (Isa. 48:12, 
13). He is the first, for “In the beginning was the 
Word, and all things were made by Him” (John 1: 
1-3). So also He is the last; for all created things 
shall wax old as a garment, and as a vesture He shall 
change them; but He is the same, whose years are 
without end (Heb. 1:10-12). 

He also asserts His supreme authority over death 
and hell, that being the force of the words, ‘‘and have 
the keys of hell and of death’. His power therefore is 
absolute and universal. It not only embraces heaven 
and earth (Mat. 28:18), but extends also to the infer- 
nal regions. 

Then comes the mandate to John: ‘‘Write the things 
which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the 
things which shall be hereafter”. As to these words 
there is no need of further comment. 

The Lord’s explanation of the stars and candle- 
sticks. Verse 20. 

The last verse of the chapter is of peculiar import- 
ance because of the light it throws upon the Book as a 
whole, and the clear indication it gives of the principle 
upon which the Book is to be interpreted. The Lord 
states that the seven stars are a ‘“‘mystery’’, and the 
seven candlesticks likewise; and of these He gives the 
explanation. But He does not explain any of the other 
symbols found in this chapter. This, however, is quite 
enough to tell us that the other distinguishing features 
of the vision, and those of other visions as well, are 


The Viston of the Son of Man 77 


also mysteries; that is, they stand for things of another 
kind than themselves, things to which they bear no 
physical resemblance at all, but to which there is a 
moral likeness that we can perceive when once it is 
pointed out. This verse, therefore, puts us on the 
right track for the true interpretation of the Book. 
By ‘“‘mystery”’ in the N. T. is always meant a secret 
of such a nature that it can be known to human beings 
only by means of a Divine revelation, a thing which ‘is 
inaccessible to the natural man, and can be appre- 
hended only by those who are in fellowship with God. 
The nature of a ‘‘mystery”’ is such, moreover, that even 
after it has been explained, it yet remains beyond the 
apprehension of those who have not received the Holy 
Spirit. For, as Hengstenberg remarks: “‘in spite of the 
revelations given through John, the fleshly and impeni- 
tent in the seven churches still continue to grope in 
darkness in regard to the stars and the lampstands, 
entertaining concerning them the most earthly and 
superficial views’. And he goes on to say: ‘“The angels 
are God’s messengers, and therefore the angels of the 
churches could only be the angels whom God had sent 
to the churches, and whom He had entrusted with the 
charge of them’’. /And he cites the words of Christ in 
Matthew 18:10, saying, “‘according to which the angel 
of any one is the particular angel to whom the charge 
of that one has been entrusted” (Acts 12:15). 
Specifically the verse we are considering explains two 
symbols whereof, without it, we should have sought the 
meaning in vain; for I know of nothing in the Bible 





78 The Patmos Visions 


whereby it could have been ascertained that the candle- 
sticks represented churches, and that the stars repre- 
sented the angels of the churches. But with the help of 
this explanation of the ‘‘mystery’’, it is easy to see the 
fitness of these symbols. Christ’s people are appointed 
to be the light of the world during the darkness of His 
absence (Mat. 5:14); and their responsibility is to 
‘shine as lights in the world” (Phil. 2:15). But the 
light they have is not from themselves, but from 
Christ, the true Light; for “‘the spirit of man is the 
candle of the Lord” (Prov. 20:27), and it remains un- 
lighted until he is brought to Christ, by conversion, 
when it is ignited from His light, even as life is im- 
parted from His life. But Christ Himself has said 
that men do not “light a candle and put it under a 
bushel, but on a candlestick”? (Mat. 5:15). And now 
we learn that the “church”, or local gathering of saved 
people, is the candlestick; and that when Christ saves 
sinners and so changes their nature that they are no 
longer “darkness but light in the Lord’ (Eph. 5:8), 
He intends that they should be congregated into 
churches, to the end that they may collectively ‘give 
light unto all that are in the house’. 

Nor could we have known, apart from this verse, 
that the stars of this vision represent the angels of the 
churches. Indeed we should not know otherwise that 
there is an angel assigned to special duty, and charged 
with special responsibility, in connection with each of 
the churches of Christ. The explanation therefore 
adds much to our knowledge concerning the ministry of 








The Viston of the Son of Man 79 


the angels, those wondrous celestial beings, whose 
numbers are infinite, who excel in strength, who fight 
the battles of the Lord, who execute His command- 
ments, hearkening to the voice of His word (Psa. 
LOSe2 0 eMati 26353 7 brebnl2 :22etc.)o.) Bub once-we 
have this most valuable explanation, we can easily see 
how it accords with other passages of Scripture. ‘The 
Lord had made known incidentally that to every one 
on earth who enters the Kingdom of heaven an angelic 
guardian is assigned (Mat. 18:10); and the early 
disciples understood this (Ac. 12:15). ‘Then in He- 
brews 1:14 it is revealed that the angels are “minister- 
ing spirits’, that is to say, servants of the Lord 
(‘‘angels and authorities and powers having been made 
subject unto him’, 1 Pet. 3:22); and that they are 
‘sent forth” to serve on behalf of those who, by their 
heavenly birth, have become the “heirs of salvation”. 

Furthermore, from the closely related Book of 
Daniel it appears that the various nations have each a 
mighty celestial being who in some mysterious way pre- 
sides over its destinies. Thus, Michael the arch- 
angel was the “prince” who stood for the nation of 
Israel (Dan. 10:21, 12:-); and mention is made also 
of other angelic princes, as for instance “‘the prince of 
Persia’’, and “the prince of Grecia” (Dan. 10:20) 
But these latter are evidently rebel angels, for they 
resisted the One who appeared to Daniel; and more- 
over He declared to Daniel that “There is none that 
holdeth with Me in these things, but Michael, your 
prince’. 





So The Patmos Visions 


From all this we may assuredly gather that just as 
there was a mighty angel who “stood for’ the people » 
of God in the past dispensation, so now there is an 
angel who stands for each of the churches of Christ, 
and who is so identified with it before Him as to be 
held responsible for the spiritual state thereof. For 
every church is a society, a sort of principality or com- 
monwealth distinct from every other, and linked to the 
others solely through Christ, the Head of all. He 
recognizes no federation of churches, and of course no 
sects nor denominations; for each “‘church” is complete 
in itself, and is responsible to no authority on earth but 
the Word and Spirit of God. There is no person, 
committee, board, synod, council or convocation, that 
has jurisdiction from Christ over a group of churches. 
It clearly appears from Chapters II and III that each 
“church” is independent of every other, and that each 
“angel” is responsible only for that particular church 
to which he has been assigned. 

This information concerning the angels and their 
relation to the churches is of great value, and should 
be prized accordingly. But, sad to say, this explana- 
tion of the stars which John saw in Christ’s right hand, 
has been by many expositors completely set aside, and 
the stars have been made to represent, not angels, but 
human ministers, such as are in our day installed in the 
various churches of Christendom. There are, how- 
ever, several fatal objections to this view. The 
strongest is, of course, that by the Lord’s own word the 
stars are symbols of angels, not of men. Further than 


a a a a IB SE SE I PREECE RETESET 
The Vision of the Son of Man 81 


that, the institution of the now almost universal one- 
man ministry (the clergyman or pastor of the church) 
was wholly unknown in New Testament times. Tie 
messages could not have been addressed to such, for 
they did not exist. Each church had its elders, over- 
seers (bishops) and deacons, and also prophets and 
teachers, but never the one-man “‘minister” or “‘pastor”’ 
as now CACtS HLL 0s ho oh hl 4 123 ot 524 G20 el Le 
Bhivaiievenl hime oieasa lames sae la bet, Ser u2 i 
etc.). Moreover the elders, deacons, etc. of those 
days, were simply members of the congregation, who, 
by reason of ripe age and other qualifications and spir- 
itual gifts, were able to exercise care over the flock in 
various ways. They were not an official or clerical 
class. hey did not answer in any wise to the symbo! 
of a star. Such a thing as one individual in a position 
of authority over the church was not only unknown, 
but would have been contrary to the expressed will of 
the Lord as regards the constitution of His churches. 

We must here call to mind a caution that has been 
already given, namely, that in this Book are found 
symbols not only of things visible, but of things in- 
visible; not only of things on the outer or material side 
of creation, but also of things on the inner or spiritual 
side. For it is the revelation, or unveiling, not only of 
things that were to happen on earth in the time then 
future, but also of things existing and going on in 
heaven. There have been many mistaken interpreta- 
tions of parts of this Book, due to the idea that the 
symbols one and all represent things visible and ma- 





82 The Patmos Visions 


terial, and events on earth. Let us keep in mind, there- 
fore, that we are here studying a Book that is written 
on both sides. 

It is true indeed that the explanation given us of the 
‘“‘mystery’’ of the stars, leaves many things unexplained. 
For we are told nothing of the manner in which the 
angels of the churches exercise their ministry and dis- 
charge the responsibilities of their office. We should 
like, of course, to know about these matters. But the 
fact that God has seen fit to leave us in ignorance of 
them is no reason why we should set aside the explana- 
tion, which, though but partial, is certainly clear as far 
as it goes. Yet what chiefly impresses me in certain 
comments I have read on this verse is that they are 
mere efforts to explain away the divine explanation, 
some of them being attempts of the most laborious 
kind to make it appear that the stars are not angels, 
as Christ plainly stated, but persons of another order 
(human beings). To me, however, the explana‘ion as 
given from the lips of the glorified Lord is not only 
clear and simple, but also exceedingly satisfactory. 


CHAPTER III 


The Letters to the Churches of Asia 
ee that the symbol God has chosen as the 


representation of the local church of this dispen- 

sation is a candlestick (or lampstand) we may 
infer that the main purpose of its existence is to hold 
aloft, for the benefit all around, the light of God’s 
truth. In other words, the church is the appointed 
witness for Christ. Its members are gathered into one 
body to the end that by their collective testimony, not 
in word only but chiefly in their distinctive manner of 
life after a pattern utterly foreign to this present evil 
world, they may show forth the reality, and the sav- 
ing and life-transforming power, of the gospel of 
Christ who died and rose again. For Christ’s people 
are in the world, not for themselves or for what they 
can get out of it, but strictly to ‘“‘occupy’’, that is to 
carry on business, for Him. ‘They are first called out* 
of the world, and then are sent back into it, as ‘‘am- 
bassadors for Christ’? (2 Cor. 5:20). ‘The risen Lord 
declared the great business of their lives in a few com- 
prehensive words when He said, “‘Ye shall be witnesses 
unto Me” (Acts 1:8). And in this high calling they 
are co-workers together with the Holy Spirit (John 
15:26,27; Acts 1:8; 5:32). The word spoken by the 


* The word ‘‘church” (ekklesia) by ey derivation signifies a called out 
company. See in this connection John 17:6, 16-18; for the words of Christ 
there recorded declare the calling out, eke also the proper constitution of 
every church. 


$3 


Pk ARETE TS MORE PERSE OA TEAST HRY RETR WEE BU TCT TET STRICT SPE TOE CR ESSE TESTE EP 
84 The Patmos Visions 


Lord and recorded in Matthew 5:15 throws clear light 
upon this subject, and is itself interpreted by His ex- 
planation that the candlesticks represent the churches: 
‘Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a 
bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all 
that are in the house’. 

Such being the main purpose of Christ for His 
churches, it would follow that when He walks in the 
midst of them and searches them with those eyes that 
are like flames of fire, His chief concern would be as 
to the things that affect their testimony. For if a 
church fails in its testimony, if it be not maintaining 
a clear witness for Christ, it is a failure in the very 
thing for which it was called into being. Therefore, 
every church of God is to be judged as to its efficiency 
and faithfulness as a light-bearer; and it is primarily 
with respect to that supremely important matter that 
their condition and their behaviour are reviewed by the 
Lord Himself, with the results set forth in these seven 
letters. Let us therefore keep that fact in mind in our 
study of them; remembering also that the scene here 
put before us is not a thing of the long ago, but of this 
entire age, during which our Lord is ever walking in 
the midst of His churches. 

What then is the testimony the churches are respon- 
sible to maintain? Or, to use the figure here employed, 
what is the nature of the “light” they are expected to 
shed upon “all that are in the house”? Briefly, the tes- 
timony or “light” of the local church is the conduct of 
those who compose it, that is to say, their whole man- 





The Letters to the Churches of Asta 85 


ner of life, in their relations with one another and with 
‘those who are without’. Their entire behaviour 
should be such as to “show forth the praises of Him 
who has called them out of darkness into His marvel- 
lous light”. Therefore, their manner of life should be 
as much in contrast with that of the unregenerate, as 
light is in contrast with darkness. 

Light and love are closely related. The ruling life- 
principle of the natural man is love of self; that of the 
Kingdom of God is Jove of others. For in that one 
word, Jove, “‘all the law is fulfilled’; for “‘love is the 
fulfilling of the law” (Gal. 5:14; Rom. 13:10). The 
whole world that lieth in the evil one, with all its gigan- 
tic enterprises, and all its complex machinery, is or- 
ganized, maintained and operated upon the basis of the 
two dominant motives of the natural heart—selfishness 
and covetousness. If by a miracle those prime char- 
acteristics of human nature were suddenly eradicated, 
the world’s stupendous enterprises would come to a 
standstill; the vast machinery of industry and com- 
merce would cease to operate; for the incentives that 
impel men into the rush of “‘business” would be gone. 
For the world’s great motto is “get’’; whereas Christ’s 
word to His people is “give”. These principles are 
mutually antagonistic. 

The letters to the churches take us on to the new- 
creation ground. Therefore we do well, before exam- 
ining them, to glance back to the beginning of the old 
creation, for the lesson it has to teach us in regard to 
the general subject of light and darkness. Upon so 


yr ES EA a SPE ETERS SU TE ESE POPES ESE TE OE ES 


86 The Patmos Visions 


doing we find that in the setting of the physical crea- 
tion in order, one of the most important details was 
the arrangement for giving light. And we find also 
that the light-bearers which God set in the physical 
heavens were His witnesses to men (Psa. 19 etc.). So 
likewise in the spiritual creation. Christ is both ‘‘the 
Sun of righteousness” (Mal. 4:2) and also ‘‘the faith- 
ful and true Witness” (Rev. 1:5). And furthermore, 
just as God made “the stars also”, He has now set 
the churches as lesser luminaries in the spiritual 
heavens. 

What then does Christ find to be the state of His 
churches when they are examined and tested by the 
general principles stated above? In considering this 
question we are getting at the very heart of His mes- 
sages to the churches; and this is what I wish to do, 
rather than to attempt an exposition of the letters in 
detail; for there are already available many commen- 
taries on these messages, in which their lessons are 
unfolded to the profit of all who read them. 


THE FRAMEWORK OF THE SEVEN LETTERS 


Upon examination of these seven letters it is at once 
perceived that they are all framed upon the same 
model, which has a seven-fold structure. 

1. Each begins with the words: “Unto the angel 
of the church of write: These things saith’, and 
then Christ, instead of naming Himself by Name, re- 
fers to Himself by some one or more of the descriptive 
symbols whereby He was revealed to John in the pre- 








The Letters to the Churches of Asia 87 


ceding vision, or by some other revelation of Him 
given in that chapter (except only in the case of the 
letter to the church in Philadelphia, where He refers 
to Himself in other terms, as will be pointed out in the 
appropriate place). ‘Thus, the letters to the churches 
are closely linked with the vision of Chapter I. 

2. Next comes in each case the declaration, ‘J 
know thy works’. By this we are reminded that every 
detail of the conduct of every church is fully known to 
Him; and that it will be righteously judged by Him, 
whether for praise or blame. 

3. Then follows, in all cases but one, a commenda- 
tion, bestowed upon whatever, in the condition or be- 
haviour of the church, Christ finds to be in anywise 
praiseworthy. Only in the case of Laodicea is the 
note of praise or commendation altogether lacking. 

4. After this is a word of reproof: ‘‘Nevertheless, 
I have against thee’; or ‘But I have a few things 
against thee’; or ‘‘Notwithstanding, I have a few 
things against thee’. However, in the message to 
Symrna and in that to Philadelphia, there is no word 
of reproof. It seems that the Lord makes the utmost 
of everything He can commend. 

5. ‘Then we have a word of exhortation or encour- 
agement, suited to the condition of the church ad- 
dressed; and in each of the five cases where reproof 
has been administered, we find in this connection a call 
to “‘repent’’. In this we see the Lord’s patience and 
long-suffering toward His churches, and His longing 


1 EDEL ESR ESE ST PSN SEIS HE EET PETES ETO EEE ENTS SE PY TEST 
88 The Patmos Visions 


desire for the restoration of such as are not maintain- 
ing a good testimony to His name. 

6. In each message is heard the solemn call: ‘He 
that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith 
unto the churches’”’. ‘This is a characteristic saying of 
the Lord Jesus Christ. None other makes use of it. 
He employs it in connection with certain of His utter- 
ances in order to impress upon us their peculiar im- 
portance. It occurs eight times in the Gospels, where 
in each case the plural “ears” is used (Mat. 11:15; 
Loo 435 MSO is ei LOw Lal ts ore Teo Dae Gd 
eight times also in Revelation (in each of the seven 
letters, and again in Chap. 13: v. 9), where the singu- 
lar, ‘‘ear’’, is used in each case. These seemingly un- 
designed correspondences between Revelation and 
other Books of the Bible are of great value, in that 
they tend to establish the authenticity of the former, 
which some have been disposed to question. Corres- 
pondences of this sort are very numerous. 

7. Finally, every letter contains a promise which is 
addressed in each case “‘to him that overcometh”. In 
the first three letters the call to “hear” precedes the 
promise to him that overcometh. In the last four this 
order is reversed. 

Thus again, in the structure of these letters, we find 
that sevenfold character which, everywhere through- 
out the Book, bears witness to its completeness and 
finality. ‘This is most appropriate in that Book which 
was to complete the revelation of God to men, and 
which contains in its concluding verses that intensely 





The Letters to the Churches of Asta 89 


solemn and threatening warning to any man who 
should add to, or take from, “the words of the book 
of this prophecy” (22:18, 19). 


I. 


To the church in Ephesus. Chap. 2:1-7. 


This was a highly favored church. Its foundation 
had been firmly laid in the labors of Paul, assisted by 
Apollos, and also by Aquila and Priscilla (Acts 18: 
19-28). The Jews in the synagogue at Ephesus gave 
willing ear to Paul’s preaching at his first visit, which 
was brief (18:20, 21); and they were further in- 
structed by Apollos, whose knowledge of ‘‘the way of 
God’, though defective at first, was subsequently per- 
fected by Aquila and Priscilla. At Paul’s second visit, 
when he returned from Jerusalem, he spent three 
months, disputing in the synagogue, ‘‘and persuading 
the things concerning the Kingdom of God” (Acts 
19:8). Some, however, were hardened; and because 
_ of their opposition, Paul, and with him those who be- 
lieved, withdrew from the synagogue; but he continued 
his preaching daily, in the school of one Tyrannus, for 
the space of two years; and his work was so thoroughly 
done, and so richly blessed of God, that ‘‘all they which 
dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both 
Jews and Greeks”. And not only so, but God wrought 
miracles of an uncommon sort (‘‘special miracles”) by 
the hands of Paul (Ac. 18:9-12), thus bearing witness 
with them, according to Hebrews 2:4. 


90 The Patmos Visions 


The incident of the Jewish exorcists (vv. 13-16) 
served also to make known the power of Christ, and 
to authenticate the preaching of Paul, insomuch that 
‘this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwell- 
ing at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the 
Name of the Lord Jesus was magnified’ (Ac. 19:17). 

Moreover, the effect of the truth of God thus man- 
ifested at Ephesus was such that those who used 
heathen books of magic, voluntarily brought them and 
burned them publicly, to the value of fifty thousand 
pieces of silver. ‘So mightily grew the Word of God 
and prevailed” (vv. 19, 20). Assuredly then, much 
was to be expected of the church at Ephesus, which had 
been thus brought into existence, and to which had been 
given such extraordinary manifestations of the power 
of the risen Christ in His heavenly kingdom. 

But that is not all, for we have in Acts 20 the rec- 
ord of Paul’s farewell message to the elders of the 
church at Ephesus, who met him by appointment at 
Miletus. The tenderness and warmth of that remark- 
able utterance, the urgency of the entreaties, and the 
solemnity of the warnings it contains, show how im- 
portant to the whole work of Christ it was that the 
testimony of His church at Ephesus should be main- 
tained. And in view, moreover, of the prominent place 
given in the Book of the Acts to the work of the Lord 
at Ephesus, we can well understand why He selected 
that church as the starting point of His series of mes- 
sages. Here is another link between the Revelation 
and the preceding Books of the New Testament. 





The Letters to the Churches of Asia gI 


To the church at Ephesus the Lord presents Him- 
self as ‘‘He that holdeth the seven stars in His right 
hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden 
candlesticks’’; in other words, as He Who has sole 
authority over all His churches, and who keeps them 
under constant and searching scrutiny. He finds things 
to commend in this church: “I know thy works, and 
thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not 
bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them 
which say they are apostles and are not, and hast 
found them liars: and hast borne, and hast patience, 
and for my Name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not 
fainted”. In not many churches today, we fear, could 
there be found so much to commend. But there was 
something lacking, without which the light must fail. 
Let us then pay strict heed to the next words: ‘‘Never- 
theless I have against thee that thou hast left thy first 
love’’.* 

These few words are most illuminating. They re- 
veal in the first place, what it is that Christ looks for 
in His people. Works, and labor, and endurance, and 
zeal for the truth in testing the claims of false apostles 
(see 2 Cor. 11:13) are things that lie on the surface. 
But Christ looks deeper. ‘The Lord looketh on the 
heart”. Where is “the love of Christ’ which at first 
had constrained some of them to forsake the syna- 
gogue, and others to abandon their religion, the wor- 
ship of the world-famous Diana of the Ephesians, and 





* The word somewhat, after ‘I have,’’ in the A. V. is an unwarranted 
interpolation. It greatly weakens the force of the passage. 








92 The Patmos Visions 


to sacrifice their costly libraries? It is no longer there; 
the church has left it behind; and hence the Lord can 
take no satisfaction in their zeal, and works, and pa- 
tience. The Lord never forgets that ‘‘first love’’, but 
is ever saying to us, as to Israel of old, “I remember 
‘thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine 
espousals, (Jer. 261 )y 

These words reveal also that the mainspring of a 
true and convincing testimony to the world is the Jove 
of Christ in the heart. How important to know this! 
What an incentive is here to a continual scrutiny of our 
affections, and of the objects upon which we are setting 
them! Has He this charge to bring against us also, 
that we too have left our first love? That can never 
‘be said of Him; for of Him it is written that, ‘‘Hav- 
ing loved His own which were in the world, He loved 
them unto the end” (John 13:1). 

Here then is the vital thing. God is love; and He 
‘commends His own love toward us, in that, while we 
were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). It 
was the perception of that love of God for us that first 
softened our hard hearts, and awakened in them, for 
a little time at least, a responsive love for Him. Yes, 
and it is there still; though it needs to be awakened 
and called into activity; for still we one and all, do 
and must ever afirm, ‘‘we love Him, because He first 
loved us’. But it is the ‘‘first love’, the affection as 
it was in its freshness, that He misses. It is as He 
said to Israel of old, ‘I remember thee, the love of 
thine espousals” (Jer. 2:2). And is it so with us? 





The Letters to the Churches of Asia 93 


Then it is vain and useless for us to try to set matters 
right in other directions. This is the all important 
matter; and it claims our undivided attention. And 
we need not despair, for the remedy is plainly declared: 
“‘Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen; 
and repent, and do the first works’. Remember. Let 
us go back in our thoughts again and yet again to those 
days of heaven on earth when first we came to the 
knowledge of Christ, and of His redeeming love. And 
then repent—turn to God in our hearts, confess our 
failure, and seek love again from its only Source; ‘‘for 
love is of God” (1 J. 4:7); and this is His gift to us; 
‘for God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of 
power, and of Jove, and of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 
1:7). And again it is written: “‘For the love of God 
is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, who 
is given to us” (Rom. 5:5). 

This word is supremely important to each one of us; 
and if we can truly join in the first clause of John’s 
ascription of praise; if we can truly say, ‘‘“Unto Him 
that loved us’ (1:5), we shall give ourselves no rest 
till we have crucified all the affections and lusts that 
come between our poor hearts and Him Who can justly 
claim all our love. 

I believe the great lesson of this letter to Bohesue 
is that the maintenance of the testimony of the church 
depends upon love for Christ, to whom the church 
belongs. ‘This is made evident again from the warn- 
ing of what would follow if His call to repentance 
should be unheeded: ‘Else I will come unto thee 





94. The Patmos Visions 


quickly, and remove thy candlestick out of its place, 
except thou repent’’. 

We have no higher revelation of truth than that 
given in those two short and marvellously simple state- 
ments from this same John: “Gop 1s LicuT’’; “Gop Is 
Love’. Our best attempts at explaining those words 
to do but serve to weaken their force and obscure their 
meaning. But our knowledge thereof is enlarged when 
we put them together and perceive that Light is the 
external manifestation of what God Himself Is in His 
essential Being. Hence the two statements are one. 
God is Light because God is Love. It is a case of 
cause and effect. ‘Therefore, the light of the church 
must fail when the love fails; and there is no remedy 
but to “repent, and do the first works”. 

The Lord specially commended the Ephesian church 
because it had tested some who presented themselves 
as apostles, and had found their pretensions to be false. 
This recalls the warnings which the true apostles had 
given. Particularly does it bring to mind Paul’s words 
to the elders of this very church: ‘‘For I know’, said 
he, “that after my departing shall grievous wolves en- 
ter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your 
own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, 
to draw away disciples after them” (Acts 20:29, 30). 
Yet more definitely he wrote to the church at Corinth 
concerning efforts that would be made by servants of 
the evil one to corrupt them from the truth, saying: 
“For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, trans- 
forming themselves into the apostles of Christ” (2 


The Letters to the Churches of Asia 95 


Cor. 12:13). The words of John Himself are of the 
same import: “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but 
try the spirits whether they are of God; because many 
false prophets are gone out into the world” (1 J. 4:1). 
And Peter also gives a like warning (2 Pet. 2:1, 2). 

These apostolic warnings all rest upon that of the 
Lord Jesus Himself, in His Sermon on the Mount: 
“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in 
sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening 
wolves” (Mat. 7:15). 

Apparently there is a return to this subject at verse 
6: “But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of 
the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate”. For the wording 
indicates that the Lord is not introducing here a new 
topic, but is referring back to the false apostles He 
had previously mentioned, thus pouring the balm of 
His commendation into the wound His sharp reproof 
had made. Who these Nicolaitanes were, and what 
their particular heresy, cannot be determined with cer- 
tainty. They are mentioned again in the letter to 
Pergamos, at which point I will offer a suggestion as 
to their general character. But we need not press the 
inquiry closely, for these letters are intended for the 
warning and exhortation of all the churches down to 
the very end; and there is need to be ever testing the 
claims of those who come in the guise of true servants 
of God and teachers of His word. 

The promise to him that overcometh is that Christ 
will give him to eat of the tree of life that is in the 
midst of the paradise of God. The tree of life figures 





96 The Patmos Vistons 


conspicuously in the vision of the glorified earth with 
which the Book ends. It would seem to be the figure 
of eternal blessedness, eternal salvation in its largest 
sense. At first glance it may appear that this, and 
some other of the promises of these letters, merely 
offer to those who overcome that which is secured to 
all the redeemed. But the Scriptures distinguish in 
many places between gifts and rewards; and while it 
was not the will of God to specify definitely the char- 
acter of the several things promised in these messages, 
we may be fully assured that they are rewards of sur- 
passing richness and blessedness. 


II 
To the church in Smyrna. Chapter 2:8-11 


This is the shortest of the messages, and it contains 
no reproof. 

The Lord here presents Himself as ‘The First and. 
the Last, Who was dead and is alive’. These words 
are most appropriate; for the church to which they 
were addressed was in “tribulation and poverty”. 
They were exposed to the persecution of false brethren 
(those who said they were Jews, but were not, but 
were the synagogue of Satan); and moreover, they 
were about to suffer worse things; some of them even 
unto death. But here is encouragement for them from 
Him “Who was dead and is alive’; Who by His death 
has destroyed “‘him that had the power of death, that is 
the devil’ (Heb. 2:14); and has robbed death of its 


sting, and the grave of its victory. 


The Letters to the Churches of Asta 97 


The great adversary is here mentioned first under 
the name ‘‘Satan’”’ in verse 9, and then under the name 
“Devil” in verse 10. In verse 9 reference is made to 
what might be called the ecclesiastical activities of the 
adversary; for one of his most successful devices 
against the truth is the organizing of religious societies, 
and the promoting of religious enterprises, in imita- 
tion of, and as a substitute for, those good works 
which Christ has ordained that we should walk in them 
(Eph. 2:10). The church at Smyrna was opposed by 
such an organization. [hose who composed it pro- 
fessed to be ‘‘Jews’’—the symbolic name of God’s true 
people. But they were not. They had only the out- 
ward profession and name. But since the Cross, it 
takes more than the name and outward profession to 
make one a “Jew”. “For he is not a Jew who is one 
outwardly; neither is that circumcision which is out- 
ward in the flesh; but he is a Jew, who is one inwardly; 
and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, not 
in the letter’ (Rom. 2:28,29; see also Rom. 9:6-8). 
Therefore, every religious gathering or society, even 
though it take a name that belongs to Christ’s re- 
deemed people, and though it conform never so strictly 
to “the letter’’, and to all that is ‘‘outward in the flesh”, 
yet if it be composed of those who have not been re- 
generated in heart by the Spirit of God, and have not 
_ been washed from their sins by the blood of Christ, 
that society is not a church of Christ but a “‘synagogue 
of Satan’. 





98 The Patmos Visions 


The apostle Paul likewise employs the name “‘Satan”’ 
in the same connection; for in warning against “false 
apostles’, who sought to pass themselves off as “the 
apostles of Christ ’’, he said: “‘And no marvel; for 
Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light” 
(2 Cor. 11:13-15). Paul’s warning thus covers both 
the danger disclosed in the letter to Ephesus, and also 
that disclosed in the letter to Smyrna. ‘The church at 
Ephesus had tested those who said they were apostles, 
and found them liars; whereas the church at Smyrna 
was openly antagonized by those who said they were 
Jews, and were not. From the reference to the ‘‘pov- 
erty’ and “tribulation” of the true church of Smyrna, 
it may be inferred that the “‘synagogue”’ of those who 
claimed to be Jews was rich in this-world’s goods, and 
was flourishing and prosperous, in contrast with the 
“poverty” of the true church; and as it was then, so 
now. But we note the comforting words in paren- 
thesis, following the word poverty, “but thou art rich’. 
Not only were they the true people of God, but theirs 
was the true riches. 

It is significant that the only other church, besides 
that at Smyrna, which receives unqualified praise from 
Christ (Philadelphia), was also opposed by them of 
‘the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and 
are not, but do lie” (3:9). 

In verse 10 the activities of the adversary take the 
form of physical persecutions; and here he is named 
“the Devil’; “Behold, the devil shall cast some of you 
into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have 


The Letters to the Churches of Asia 99 


tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and 
I will give thee a crown of life’. ‘Thus warned, and 
thus encouraged, many, no doubt, faced with fortitude 
and endured with patience the “tribulation” through 
which they were to pass. 

Some have sought to indentify ten distinct persecu- 
tions of christians in general at the hands of imperial 
Rome as the ‘‘ten days” here mentioned. But this is 
far-fetched. Days do not symbolize persecutions. But 
the number ten, in Bible symbology, seems to indicate 
a complete testing, or a trial to the limit. Thus, Jacob 
complained that Laban had changed his wages “‘ten 
times” (Gen. 31:7, 41). The plagues of Egypt were 
ten in number. Israel was fully tested with ten com- 
mandments (Ex. 20). When God’s patience had been 
tried to the limit, He said, they had tempted Him now 
‘these ten times” (Nu. 14:22). Jcb complained of 
his friends saying, ‘“These ten times have ye reproached | 
me” (Job. 19:2). Daniel requested that he and his 
companions be proved or tested (as regards their 
food) ‘ten days’ (Dan. 1:12-15). So we get the 
thought that the church at Smyrna was to be fully 
tested in the furnace of aflliction. 

The chief lesson of this passage appears to be that 
it is by trials, sufferings, and tribulations, that spiritual 
progress is promoted and eternal rewards gained. We 
also obtain from this letter the assurance that Christ 
in a special way draws near and reveals Himself to 
those who are called upon to suffer for His Name’s 
sake; to the end that in all these things they should be 





1OO The Patmos Visions 


more than conquerors through Him that loved them 
(Rom::8 337) .% 

The promise of this letter is: ‘‘He that overcometh 
shall not be hurt of the second death”. Here again 
we find ourselves beyond our depth, and therefore at- 
tempt no explanation of this promise. The second 
death is defined in Chapter 20:14 as the lake of fire. 


Ill 
To the Church in Pergamos. Chapter 2:12-17. 


Christ here presents Himself as ‘‘He which hath 
the sharp sword with two edges’’. The bearing of this 
is seen in verse 16, where, speaking of those whom He 
had just reproved (verses 14, 15) He says: ‘‘Repent; 
or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight 
against them with the sword of My mouth”. That 
‘sword’, His word, has one edge for His enemies 
(19:15), and another for the judgment of His own 
people, when their behaviour, or their condition, re- 
quires its use. 

Verse 13 contains strong commendation: “I know 
thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where 
Satan’s seat (i. e. throne) is: and thou holdest fast My 
Name, and hast not denied My faith, even in those 
days wherein Antipas was My faithful martyr, who 
was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth”’. 

This church was in a place of peculiar danger, a 
place of direct exposure to the adversary; for it was 
where Satan’s authority was in some special way ac- 
knowledged. His devices in this case did not take the 





The Letters to the Churches of Asta tol 


form either of spurious christianity, or of physical per- 
secutions, as at Smyrna; but were of a nature similar 
to the device employed by Balaam against Israel, when 
he taught Balac, the king of the Moabites, to cast a 
stumbling-block before the children of Israel. ‘This 
was accomplished through the women of Moab, by 
whom the Israelites were enticed to take part in the 
idolatrous sacrifices of the Moabites, and to commit 
fornication (Nu. 25:1-3). The sin which answers 
to this on the part of “‘the Israel of God” (Gal. 6:16) 
is their participation in the formal or ceremonial do- 
ings, especially of those of a religious, or quasi-religious 
character, of this present evil world. As it is writ- 
ten: ‘Ye adulterers and adulteresses; know ye not that 
the friendship of the world is enmity against God?” 
(Jam. 4:4). 

The Moabites were the near kin of the Israelites, 
which would seem to be a reasonable ground for close 
and cordial relations and intercourse. It is instructive, 
however, to observe that Israel suffered more damage 
from their near kinsmen, the Edomites, Moabites, and 
Ammonites, than from their avowed enemies. And 
so itisnow. The Israel of God has more to fear from 
the respectable elements of society, from those who as- 
sume a benevolent and patronizing attitude to “‘reli- 
gion” in general and perhaps to christianity in particu- 
lar, than from those who are the avowed enemies of 
Christ. 

But Pergamos had previously experienced a season 
of physical persecutions, such as was awaiting Smyrna; 





102 The Patmos Visions 


and Pergamos had stood the test. For it had held fast 

the Name of Christ, and had not denied His faith, even 
in those days of fiery trial when the rage of the enemy 
had been such that Antipas (one of Christ’s martyrs 
not otherwise known than by the Lord’s reference to 
him here) was slain. ‘This steadfastness of the church 
in those days of persecution was doubtless the reason 
for Satan’s change in tactics, as stated in verse 14. 
Upon that verse we have sufficiently commented 
above. 

In verse 15 we read: ‘So hast thou also them that 
hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I 
hate’. In the letter to the church in Ephesus ‘“‘the 
deeds of the Nicolaitanes’” were referred to. Here it 
is their doctrine. Whoever these Nicolaitanes were, 
both their deeds and also their doctrines were hateful 
to the Lord. ‘The only clue we have to an explanation 
is found in the meaning of the name itself, and this 
is worthy of consideration because it finds support in 
the meaning of the name Balaam, which occurs in the 
preceding verse. he name Nicolas, which belonged 
to the person of whom these Nicolaitanes were the fol- 
lowers, means one who conquers (or lords it over) the 
people. Now it can hardly be a coincidence in a Book 
where names and numbers, as well as objects, are used 
as symbols, that the name Balaam in Hebrew has sub- 
stantially the same meaning as Nicolas in Greek, and 
that here we have mention in verse 14 of the doctrine 
of Balaam, and in verse 15 of the doctrine of the 
Nicolaitanes. ‘his would point to the conclusion that 





The Letters to the Churches of Asia _—_ 103 


Nicolaitanism was some form of heresy having for its 
object to bring the people of God into some sort of 
spiritual bondage. Such was the character of that 
early heresy against which the Epistle to the Galatians 
was written. The aim of that teaching was to bring 
into bondage again those whom Christ had made free 
from Jewish rites, ceremonies and ordinances, such as 
circumcision, and the keeping of holy days. That was 
the work of some whom the apostle called “false 
brethren’, who, said he, “came in privily to spy out 
our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they 
might bring us into bondage” (Gal. 2:4). The term 
‘false brethren’? corresponds closely with the words, 
‘‘who say they are Jews and are not, but are the syn- 
agogue of Satan’, the author of all that is “false”. It 
would seem that this particular evil had become very 
general in those early days. For in the passage already 
referred to where the same apostle utters a strong de- 
nunciation of the “false apostles”, who, though the 
ministers of Satan, were representing themselves as the 
apostles of Christ, he uses the expression “if any man 
bring you into bondage,” and also speaks of having 
been “‘in perils among false brethren” (2 Cor. 11:13, 
15, 20, 26). It is not that circumcision, or the ob- 
servance of days and the like, matters at all, one way 
or the other, since Christ by His death and resurrec- 
tion abolished all the shadows of the law; ‘For in 
Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, 
nor uncircumcision, but a new creature” (Gal. 6:15). 
But the attempt to impose upon “‘the Israel of God” 





104. The Patmos Visions 


the obligation to observe the abolished ordinances of 
the law was not only an effort to bring them into bond- 
age to “the weak and beggarly elements” (4:9) from 
which Christ had made them free, but was also a dis- 
tortion of the gospel, so great as to make it a differ- 
ent gospel (1:6, 9). 

The warning in the message to Pergamos is, ‘‘Re- 
pent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and fight 
against them with the sword of my mouth’. From the 
wording of this warning it appears that we have not 
here the case of a whole church being carried away 
with evil doctrine, as the whole church at Ephesus was 
charged with falling away from its first love. For 
Christ says, “I will come to thee, and will fight’—not 
against thee, but—‘‘against them’’. Yet the call to 
‘‘repent’’ was to the entire church, which is, of course, 
responsible for evils allowed to exist in its midst. 

The promise to him that overcometh is twofold: 
(1) Christ will give him ‘‘to eat of the hidden manna”’. 
This is in apparent contrast with “‘to eat things sacri- 
ficed to idols” (v. 14). The reference is to some spe- 
cial’ enjoyment of Christ (of whom the manna is a 
type) as foreshadowed by the golden pot full of 
manna, which Aaron was commanded to lay up before 
the ark of the testimony in the holy of holies (Ex. 
16:33; Heb. 9:4). (2) Christ will “give him a white 
stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no 
man knoweth saving he that receiveth it’. The gift 
of a new name always carries with it some great bless- 
ing or high honor; and the lustrous white stone (prob- 





The Letters to the Churches of Asia 105 


ably a diamond) is exceedingly precious. Hence the 
promise points to something of surpassing value. 


IV 
To the church in Thyatira. Chapter 2:18-29 


This is the longest of the letters, and its message is 
weighty. It reveals further the methods employed by 
the adversary, exposing the very ‘“‘depths of Satan’”’ 
(v. 24); so that, if we give earnest heed to these 
things, we shall be able to say with the apostle that 
‘‘we are not ignorant of his devices’’. 

The revelation of Jesus Christ must needs involve 
also the revelation of that mighty being who dares to 
contend with Him, and who wages ceaseless warfare 
for the possession of “the souls of men” (18:13). 
Hence various phases of that perpetual warfare are 
seen throughout the Book we are studying; and its en- 
tire course, from its beginning at the dawn of creation, 
to its final and decisive conflict in the time of the two 
beasts, which is in “the days of the voice of the seventh 
angel’, is briefly traced in Chapter XII, as will be 
shown later on. 

But in these letters we are given specially to see 
those tactics which the enemy employs against the 
churches of Christ. Therefore it behooves us to ob- 
serve with closest attention the teaching of Christ con- 
cerning “the Devil’ and “Satan” (see 12:9), as de- 
veloped in the three successive letters to Smyrna, 
Pergamos, and Thyatira. 


eS SSR SSSSSSSSSSSS SSS 
sa en SLSROESED SRP SED BS? ESS SOS EC ESE SSS SEES RE a ge TTL TT 


106 The Patmos Visions 








To this last-named church the Lord presents Him- 
self as ‘The Son of God, Who hath His eyes like unto 
a flame of fire, and His feet are like fine brass’. 

The combination of these two symbols is very force- 
ful: and moreover it is most appropriate to what fol- 
lows. For the symbols strikingly present the Lord as 
the One whose eyes search out every evil deed, and 
Whose feet trample in judgment upon all the wicked 
doings of man. 

This address to Thyatira is also noteworthy as be- 
ing the first and the only time in the Book that Christ 
is presented by Name as the “Son of God’. ‘That 
there is a special reason for this cannot be doubted; 
and that reason is to be sought, of course, in the con- 
ditions, peculiar to the Thyatira church, as disclosed 
in this letter. Let us therefore examine the passage 
with that thought in mind, remembering always that 
each of these seven churches is but a type, or repre- 
sentative on a small scale, of something in the affairs 
and history of the churches in general, throughout the 
world, and throughout the age. Briefly then, our view 
is that in this letter to Thyatira we are given to see 
the inception of that masterpiece of Satanic deception, 
that monstrous heresy, whose fullest development has 
been manifested in Romanism. Many facts and in- 
dications point to this conclusion, as will be seen here- 
after; but we only state at this point the conclusion 
itself, in order that the matters now before us may be 
examined in the light thereof. 





The Letters to the Churches of Asia 107 


Now one great aim, if not the chief aim, of the 
enemy of God in propagating the Romish heresy 
(which is what we take to be “the depths of Satan’’) 
is to degrade the Lord Jesus Christ from His place as 
Son of God; for it is under that title that He is pre- 
sented to men: (1) As the Creator and Heir of all 
things (Mat11:27; Col. t:18-(16; Heb. 1:1-3) 3) (2) 
As the only Way of access to the Father (John 14:6; 
Eph. 2:18); (3) As the only Source and Giver of life 
to perishing men, and hence the only Saviour (John 
Deeiveeteeow2os Ly. S32): and: (4 ).as the One who 
has brought to mankind the final and complete message 
or Word of God (Heb. 1:2; Rev. 22:18, 19). 

In direct opposition to each of these features of 
revealed truth concerning the ‘Son of God’, though 
the opposition is indeed disguised (so far as possible) 
with diabolical cleverness, the Romish heresy sys- 
tematically present Jesus Christ, not as the Son of 
God, but as the Son of Mary. In all its doctrine, in 
all its ceremonies, in all its liturgy and books of devo- 
tion, in all its pictures and images, and in all its litera- 
ture, the false church of Rome, with most consummate 
and satanic craft, and with most deadly purpose, ex- 
alts Mary—making her the compassionate one, the 
efficacious intercessor on behalf of sinners, the real 
mediator between God and men; and exhibits Christ 
in a position of subordination; the effect being, of 
course, that the millions who are thus deluded and 
blinded by ‘“‘the god of this world’, are led to put their 
trust in Mary instead of in Jesus Christ the Son of 


108 The Patmos Visions 


God. It does not in the least affect the truth of what 
we are now setting forth that in Romish formularies 
the words of Scripture are often used, and that Christ 
is often referred to therein by His scriptural titles; for 
all that is but a part, and a most effective part, of the 
scheme of deception. The Devil knows the Scripture; 
and he knows how to quote it to his own ends; and 
he knows also how to mix in with the pure meal, the 
deadly poison of his own doctrine. Notwithstanding 
therefore the orthodoxy of creeds and formularies, the 
maintenance professedly of the doctrine of the Trinity 
(though truly it is denied in practice) and all that, the 
Christ of Romanism is ‘‘another Jesus’. Hence, in 
that system chiefly, though in other great systems also 
(as Unitarianism, and other forms of Humanism) is 
fulfilled the apostolic prophecy, ‘‘He that cometh 
preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached” 
(2Cors 11:4). And) be: it’ carefully noted) that, in 
sounding this warning, the apostle was speaking of 
what was to be the working in days to come of “‘the 
serpent’ who “‘beguiled Eve by his subtlety” (v. 3). 
The adversary’s activity along this line was to head up 
finally in ‘“‘that wicked one,’’ whose coming will be 
“after the working of Satan, with all power and signs 
and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of un- 
righteousness in them that perish; because they re- 
ceived not the love of the truth that they might be 
saved’’ (2 Thess. 2:8-10). 

In Thyatira, as in Pergamos, Christ sees many 
things tocommend. For He says: “I know thy works, 





The Letters to the Churches of Asia tog 


and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, 
and thy works; and the last to be more than the first’. 
This is high praise. But He hastens to the subject of 
the evil thing that had risen up and was developing 
amongst them, and to that subject the greater part of 
the message is devoted. ‘Notwithstanding’ I have 
against thee* that thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, 
which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach, and to se- 
duce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat 
things sacrificed unto idols’. 

The introduction of the name Jezebel, as a symbol 
of the evil seen by those flaming eyes, is very illuminat- 
ing. Jezebel, whose name signifies unchaste, was the 
daughter of Ethbaal (with Baal) king of the Zidon- 
ians; and when Ahab king of Israel took her to wife, 
he became a mere puppet in her hands. Moreover, 
through her influence the worship of Baal became the 
State religion of the ten tribes, whence it spread to the 
kingdom of Judah. It was never completely eradicated 
till the captivity (1 Kings. 16 :30-34 eles 

Baalism was a licentious religion; and hence it fitly 
symbolizes that great heresy of christendom whose es- 
sential characteristic is spiritual unfaithfulness to 
Christ, and which fairly revels in gorgeous ceremonials 
and all that is attractive to the flesh. But the resem- 
blance is even closer; for it has been shown by those 
who have made a study of comparative religions, that 





* The words ‘‘a few things’! i ici 
: gs’’ are of ver uestionable authenticity; and 
they certainly are not in harmony with cud cartes : y ‘ 





I1O The Patmos Visions 


many specific features of Romish ritual are derived 
directly from Baal-worship. 

In Biblical symbology, and particularly in the Apoca- 
lypse, a woman is the symbol of an elaborate or per- 
fected system, whether religious, political, or industrial. 
In this instance Jezebel stands for a system of doctrine. 
The context makes this plain; for the words of Christ 
refer to Jezebel, not as a queen, but as a “‘prophetess”’, 
one who was teaching His servants to commit fornica- 
tion, and to eat things sacrificed to idols. Evidently 
then there had arisen in the church at Thyatira a sys- 
tem of doctrine so monstrously evil that Christ utters 
a threatening warning against those who were accept- 
ing it, “except they repent of their deeds”, saying: 
‘Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that com- 
mit adultery with her into great tribulation, except 
they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children 
with death; and all the churches shall know that I am: 
He that searcheth the reins and hearts’. 

The execution of this threat is, I believe, revealed 
by the vision described in Chapter 17. There is seen 
a woman of royal rank, but utterly dissolute, one “‘with 
whom the kings of the earth have committed fornica- 
tion, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made 
drunk with the wine of her fornication” (17:2). And 
we read that the ten horns (ten kings) “‘shall make her 
desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn 
her with fire’ (v.16). This is the ‘bed’ into which 
God will cast her; and her end wil! be like that of 
Jezebel, who was cast from an upper window into the 





The Letters to the Churches of Asta 111 


street, which became her death-bed; and her flesh was 
literally eaten by the ravenous street dogs, insomuch 
that ‘‘they found no more of her than the skull, and the 
feet, and the palms of her hands” (2 K. 9:35). And 
not only so; but God’s judgment upon Jezebel had been 
foretold ‘‘by His servant Elijah, the Tishbite” (v. 36) 
as that upon her anti-type has been foretold by ‘‘His 
servant John’. 

The words, “And I will kill her children with death,”’ 
are striking. Rome delights in the name “‘mother’’. 
She has endless terms of endearment for her ‘‘chil- 
dren’, and countless ways of expressing her motherly 
fondness for them. But her denial of the Son of God 
hides from those “children” the one and only source 
of life: Hence (‘‘except they repent’’) there is nought 
for them but death, even the awful doom of ‘‘the sec- 
ond death’’. 

But not all in Thyatira were involved in this false 
and ruinous doctrine. For Christ has a special word 
for “‘the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doc- 
trine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, 
as they speak’’, i. e., as the teachers of this doctrine of 
Jezebel teach. His word to those faithful ones is full 
of encouragement. ‘I will put upon you none other 
burden, but that which ye have hold fast till I come’. 
That which they had was, as may be inferred from the 
context, the truth revealed in the New Testament 
Scriptures concerning the Son of God as the Creator 
and Heir of all things, as the only “‘Way”’ to the 
Father, and only Mediator between God and men, as 


112 _ The Patmos Visions 


the completeness of the Word of God, and especially 
as the only Source of eternal life. 

The promise runs thus: “And he that overcometh 
and keepeth My works unto the end, to him will I 
give power over the nations; and he shall rule them 
with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they 
be broken: even as I received of My Father; and I will 
give him the morning star’’. 

A prominent feature of Romanism is its insistence 
on ‘“‘works’’, and especially upon works wholly unlike 
those enjoined in the New Testament Scriptures, the 
‘good works which God hath before ordained” for 
those who are re-created “in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 
2:10; Tit. 3:8, 14). The works which ‘“‘mother Rome” 
requires of her children are derived mainly from pagan 
sources, and are often characterized by superstition 
and triviality. In contrast with these, the Son of God 
promises a magnificent reward to them that keep His 
works unto the end. For such shall even share the 
great reward promised Him by His Father. This 
promise takes us back to that great prophecy, the Sec- 
ond Psalm, the only place in the O. T. where Christ is 
spoken of as the Son of God. It is Christ Himself who 
here speaks through David, saying: “‘I will declare the 
decree: the Lord hath said unto Me, Thou art My 
Son; this day have I begotten Thee. Ask of Me, and 
I will give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance, 
and the uttermost part of the earth for Thy possession. 
Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; Thou shalt 
dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel” (Psa. 2:7-9). 





The Letters to the Churches of Asia 113 


We shall have occasion to refer again, in the course of 
our present study, to this great prophetic Psalm, for 
there is much in the Apocalypse in the way of the ful- 
filment of its predictions. 

We must bear in mind that the settled purpose of 
the church of Rome, from which it has never deviated 
in all the centuries of its existence, has been to acquire 
and exercise ‘power over the nations’. The pope 
arrogantly and blasphemously claims the right to exer- 
cise that power as ‘“‘the vicar of Christ’. And the 
attempt of the papacy to rule the nations has had a 
considerable measure of success. ‘This is symbolized 
by the picture of the harlot riding the ten-horned beast | 
(Chap. XVII). How appropriate then is this promise 
to the overcomer: “I will give him power over the 
nations’ | 

The promise of the Morning Star points to the pos- 
session of Christ in some special and exceedingly pre- 
cious way; for in Chapter 22:16, He says of Himself, 
“T AM the root and the offspring of David, the bright 
and morning star’. These words suggest some con- 
nection with His royal authority as Son of David, as 
is also implied in the context, and in the Psalm of 
David, which we have quoted. In the resurrection 
“one star differeth from another star in glory” (1 Cor. 
15:41). So the promise points to some pre-eminence 
among the “‘stars’’ in glory. ‘he apostle Peter like- 
wise has this reward in view when he exhorts the peo- 
ple of God to take heed unto the sure word of prophecy 
(now made “more sure”’ by the death and resurrection 





114 The Patmos Visions 


of Christ, and by the confirmation of the New Testa- 
ment Scriptures) ‘‘as unto a light that shineth in a 
dark place, until the day dawn and the day star arise 
invyourhearts (2) Pet wl sl9).: 


V. 
To the church in Sardis. Chapter 3 :1-6. 


The character of the last three messages is quite 
different from that of the four preceding. In those 
we are given to see the development of a positive evil 
raised up in the midst of the churches by the enemy of 
Christ. Its beginning was in ‘‘the deeds of the Nico- 
. laitanes’”’, in Ephesus. But the heresy had not made 
much headway there; for Christ commends the angel 
of the church of Ephesus for hating the deeds of the 
Nicolaitanes, ‘“‘which’’, He said, ‘‘I also hate’. But in 
Smyrna we note a great development of this evil thing. 
The synagogue of Satan is now in full swing. It is 
well organized, prosperous, aggressive, and animated 
by a persecuting spirit. Passing then to Pergamos, we 
find not merely the synagogue of Satan, but his dwell- 
ing place, and the place of his throne; and there we find 
also them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, and them 
that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes. In Thya- 
tira this evil reaches its full development; for there we 
find the very “depths of Satan”. Things can get no 
worse along that line. 

Coming now to Sardis we find, not the rise and 
progress of a system of satanic wickedness, but a state 





The Letters to the Churches of Asia 115 


of decline and decay, a dying out of spirituality and 
love of the truth. 

To this church Christ presents Himself as “He that 
hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars’. 
These symbols are easily read in the light of Scripture. 
As already pointed out, the “‘seven Spirits symbolize 
the fullness of the ‘‘One Spirit’’, and the “‘seven stars” 
represent the totality of all the churches; Therefore, 
Christ here presents Himself as the One to whom God 
has given the Spirit in His fullness, “without measure”’ 
(John 3:34; Col. 1:19), and as the One who has 
supreme authority over all the churches. 

The relations of Christ to His churches, as expressed 
by these symbols, can be profitably studied in Chapters 
XII-XIV of 1 Corinthians where the One Spirit—“‘the 
same Spirit’, ‘‘the selfsame Spirit”, the ‘‘one Spirit” 
(12:4, 8, 9, 11, 13)—1s set forth in the diversities of 
His gifts and the fullness of His operations; and where 
the authority of the one Lord Jesus Christ, ‘‘the same 
Lord” (12:5), is declared as extending to and over 
“all the churches of the saints” (14:34, 37). The doc- 
trine of these chapters, and the truth revealed in them, 
bear directly upon the message to Sardis, therefore ‘t 
would be well for the reader to refer to them for 
further light. For the Lord, in addressing this church, 
(Sardis) calls upon them to remember how they had 
“received and heard”. This must be a reference (1) 
to the gifts of the Holy Spirit which had been so freely 
bestowed at the beginning, and which all the churches 
had “received”; and (2) to “the doctrine of Christ’’, 


116 The Patmos Visions 


which had been so faithfully taught by the apostle Paul, 
who had “kept back nothing that was profitable’, but 
had declared ‘‘all the counsel of God” (Ac. 20:20, 27), 
and which all the churches had “heard”, both by word 
of mouth and by letter. 

Christ finds in the “works” of this church nothing 
that He can expressly commend. For all He says on 
that subject is: “I know thy works, that thou hast a 
name that thou livest, and art dead”. There is, how- 
ever, a note of commendation, though rather a faint 
one, in verse 4. 

This Sardis-like condition is very prevalent in our 
own day. For there be many congregations that have 
the name of life in that they bear the Name of Him 
that liveth, and in that they have also the name in their 
respective communities of being a “live church’’, be- 
cause of their various activities, and of their numerous 
enterprises, both social and religious. But, in the eyes 
of Him whose Name they bear, those activities are but 
‘‘dead works’’, whereof they have need to repent) 
and from which their consciences need to be “purged” 
(Heb. 9:14). | 

So He proceeds at once to deliver His exhortation 
and His warning. ‘Be watchful, and strengthen the 
things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have 
not found thy works perfect before God. Remember 
therefore how thou hast received and heard; and hold 
fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I 
will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know 
what hour I will come upon thee’. 





The Letters to the Churches of Asia 117 


It is clear that these words do not speak of some evil 
thing suffered to exist and develop among them, but 
rather of the languishing and decay of spiritual life, 
and of the knowledge and love of the truth among 
them. That decay was plain in His sight, though hid- 
den from human eyes by a cover of religious and other 
activities. | 

The exhortations are, Be watchful; strengthen the 
things which remain; remember; hold fast; repent. 
These all bear witness to a state of spiritual decline. 
It is as if the church of Sardis were composed of a com- 
pany such as “‘the rest in Thyatira’’, those who did not 
hold the doctrine of Jezebel, but who had fallen into 
a very low spiritual condition. They had still some- 
thing left of the truth of God that had been taught 
them, and of the things of Christ the Spirit had re- 
vealed to them. But these things were ‘ready to die’; 
and they too would soon be lost if they did not re- 
member what they had received and heard in days 
past, and hold them fast, and repent. 

The words “I will come upon thee as a thief’, are 
not a reference to the Lord’s second advent, but to a 
sudden visitation in judgment, if they should ignore 
His warning. And of course, this is a message to every 
church that is in the Sardis condition. : 

But there were a few “even in Sardis” whom the 
Lord could commend, though He could not bestow any 
Praise upon the church as a whole. 





118 The Patmos Visions 


‘Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have 
not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with 
Me in white, for they are worthy”. 

Here again we have the descriptive word ‘‘white”’, 
so often applied in this Book to divine and heavenly 
things. The garments of the redeemed in glory are 
‘white’, lustrous white (6:11; 7:9, 14). The gar- 
ments of the bride are of “‘fine linen, clean and white”’ 
or bright with dazzling radiance (19:8). On the 
earth man is the only one of the countless species of 
living creatures that has no natural clothing. Sin 
stripped him of his garments of glory and beauty, 
wherein he originally stood in the likeness of God; 
and so he is the only shabbily dressed creature in the 
world. if this feature of man’s natural condition were 
better understood, the promises of Scripture relating 
to the garments of the saints in glory would be more 
highly appreciated. 

The promise to him that overcometh is in these 
words: ‘“‘He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed 
in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out 
of the book of life, but I will confess his name before 
My Father, and before His angels”. The reference 
to the white raiment calls for no further comment. 
The book of life is prominent in the last chapters of the 
Apocalypse (20:12, 15; 21:27; 22:19). Its mention 
in the letter to Sardis is appropriate in view of the fact 
that life and death are the main theme of the letter. 
The final clause of the verse last quoted recalls the 
Lord’s promise recorded in Matthew 10:32, 33, and 





The Letters to the Churches of Asia 119 


Luke 12:8, 9. Quoting from Luke: “‘And I say unto 
you, whosoever shall confess Me before men, him shall 
the Son of man also confess before the angels of God: 
But he that denieth Me before men shall be denied 
before the angels of God”’. 


VI 
To the church in Philadelphia. Chapter 3:7-13. 


To this church Christ presents Himself in char- 
acters not taken from the sevenfold description of Him 
given in Chapter I; nor from other revelations of Him- 
self given in that chapter. It will have been noticed 
by the careful reader that to each of the churches the 
Lord reveals Himself in a character that is in keeping 
with the condition of the particular church addressed. 
We should expect therefore, from the distinctive char- 
acter wherein He presents Himself to the church in 
Philadelphia, to find there a condition of things quite 
different from that of every other church. And that is 
what we do find. 

The message begins: ‘These things saith He that is 
holy, He that is true, He that hath the key of David, 
He that openeth and no man shutteth; and shutteth 
and no man openeth’’. 

There is no reference here to the eyes of flame, nor 
to the feet that tread down the evil-doers and their 
works, nor to the sword of His mouth, nor even to the 
right hand of His power with which He holds the seven 
stars. he very first words indicate that the church in 
Philadelphia is in such a state of spirituality as to know 


120 The Patmos Visions 


Him who is holy, and Who is true. Again we have 
from Christ a strong assertion of His Deity; for. only 
God can say “I AM holy” (1 Pet. 1:16: Lev. 11:44). 
Isaiah 57:15 is specially in view: ‘‘For thus saith the 
High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, WHOSE 
Name Is Hory; I dwell in the high and holy place, 
with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit”. 
Such evidently was the spirit of the church in Phila- 
delphia, to which He now comes, ‘“‘to revive the spirit 
of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite 
ones’. 

The words ‘‘He that is true’’, take us to John 17:3; 
where He says: “And this is life eternal, that they 
might know Thee, the ONLY TRUE Gop, and Jesus 
Christ whom Thou hast sent’’; and also to 1 John 
5:20, where we read: ‘“‘And we know that the Son of 
God is come, and hath given us an understanding that 
we may know HIM THAT Is TRUE; and we are IN Him 
THAT IS TRUE, even in His Son, Jesus Christ. This the 
TRUE Gop and eternal life’. These words might be 
taken as expressive of the spirit of the church in 
Philadelphia. 

The next words of the address, ‘“He that hath the 
key of David, He that openeth” etc. present difficulty, 
and have been variously explained. I will presently 
refer to those passages of Scripture which seem to bear 
upon this part of the verse, and in the light of which 
it must be interpreted. The next verse of the chapter 
we are studying is first of all to be taken into con- 
sideration, for it is directly connected in thought: ‘“‘Be- 


The Letters to the Churches of Asia 121 


hold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man 
can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept 
My word, and hast not denied My name’. 

The meaning of this is clear in part at least. It is 
because this church has but little strength of its own 
that Christ says ‘‘I have set before thee an open door, 
and no man can shut it”. And this door, opened by the 
power of Christ, and kept open by His power, is more- 
over His reward to the church for keeping His Word 
and not denying His Name. This is of the utmost 
importance for such a time as this, a time of wholesale 
denials of His Word and His Name on the part of 
large and influential ‘churches’, and of prominent, 
learned, and able ‘“‘ministers”. For whatever may be 
signified by the ‘“‘open door’, it is beyond question 
something in the nature of a rich reward to the faith- 
ful church of “‘little strength’’, in a time of great and 
widespread apostasy. 

Some have referred to the “‘open door’ of oppor- 
tunity of which Paul speaks (1 Cor. 16:9; 2 Cor. 
2:12), and have suggested that the door which Christ 
opened to the church in Philadelphia was of that na- 
ture. This would imply that Philadelphia was zealous 
in missionary effort, and in spreading the gospel. But 
this suggestion does not agree with the rest of the 
verse; and particularly does it fail to explain the refer- 
ence to “the Key of David”. This striking phrase will 
put us on the track of the meaning, for it occurs in 
one other passage, and only one, namely, Isaiah 22:22. 
Turning to that Scripture we find that the prophet is 





122 The Patmos Visions 


there speaking in and of the days of Hezekiah, when 
the Assyrian was invading the land; when “‘breaches’’ 
had been made in “the city of David’, and the de- 
fenders were so sorely pressed that they had even torn 
down the houses in order to repair the breaches in the 
wall (vv. 9, 10). Yet they were not looking to the 
Lord for help. On the contrary, though He was call- 
ing them to weeping, and to mourning, and to sack- 
cloth (i. e. to repent), they were giving themselves 
over to mirth and festivity, to joy and gladness, eating 
flesh and drinking wine, saying, “‘let us eat and drink, 
for tomorrow we die’ (vv. 11-13). At that time 
Shebna was the officer ‘“‘over the house’’, and to him 
God sent by Isaiah a message announcing the judgment 


that was about to fall upon him. And then He says, - 


‘And it shall come to pass in that day that I will call 
my servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah—and I will 
commit thy government into his hand—and the key of 
the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so 
he shall open and none shall shut; and he shall shut 
and none shall open . . . and they shall hang on him 
all the glory of his father’s house”’ etc. (vv. 20-24). 
This passage should be considered in connection with 
Isaiah’s earlier prophecy concerning the birth of 
Christ, in which occur the well-known words, “‘And the 
government shall be upon His shoulder; . . . Of the 
increase of His government and peace there shall be no 
end, upon the throne of David’ (Isa. 9:6, 7). And 
the conclusion I draw from the two passages is that 
“the key of David” is a symbol for the royal authority 


— <= a _ 





The Letters to the Churches of Asia = 123 


of Christ as the promised Son of David, the Messiah, 
and as the Heir of all the promises made to David and 
his house, that is to say, of ‘“‘the sure mercies of 
David’. Briefly then, to have the key of David means 
to have supreme and absolute authority. Moreover, 
our Lord, by speaking of Himself as “He that hath 
the key of David’’, in effect says that Eliakim was a 
type of Himself, and that the circumstances in which 
the key of David was laid upon the shoulder of Eliakim 
were typical of the circumstances in which the Phila- 
delphian church found itself. 2 Kings 18 tells us what 
those circumstances were. Jerusalem was threatened 
by the Assyrian armies; and Rabshakeh had come 
against the city with a great host, and stood without 
the wall and cried out an insulting message to be car- 
ried to King Hezekiah. Eliakim and Shebna were the 
representatives of the King who received the message 
and brought it to him. The sequel was that God, 
through Isaiah, sent to Hezekiah the promise of de- 
liverance from the King of Assyria, which promise He 
immediately fulfilled. This was, so to speak a door of 
escape or deliverance, a way out of threatened danger, 
a door which those in Jerusalem could not open for 
themselves, because they had but a “‘little strength”. 
This I take to be the nature of the assurance given to 
the church in Philadelphia. 

But who was the enemy that threatened them? The 
next verse answers this question; and it also enlarges the 
promise: “Behold, I will make them of the synagogue 
of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but 





124 The Patmos Visions 


do lie: behold, I will make them to come and worship 
before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee’’. 

Referring back to our comments on the message to 
Smyrna, another weak but faithful church, we find two 
conditions that are repeated in Philadelphia; first, they 
in Smyrna were opposed and persecuted by false 
brethren, who said they were ‘“‘Jews’’, but in reality 
were “the synagogue of Satan”; second, they were 
about to have great tribulation (‘tribulation ten 
days’). This second condition is found in Philadel- 
phia also; for verse 10 reads: “Because thou hast kept 
the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from 
the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the 
world, to try them that dwell upon the earth’. But 
here is a great difference. Those in Smyrna were to 
suffer “‘unto death’’, and therefore the comfort to the 
overcomers was that they should “not be hurt of the 
second death’. ‘There was no open door of escape for 
them. But the church in Philadelphia was to be kept 
from (i. e. out of) the impending trial, whatever the 
nature thereof might be. Christ would exercise His 
royal authority, the supreme lordship given Him in 
heaven and earth, symbolized by the key of David, 
and would open to them a door of deliverance. 

The message continues: “Behold, I come quickly, 
hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy 
crown’. 

We have no warrant to take the words “I come 
quickly” as signifying Christ’s second advent: for what- 
ever may be the more remote application of the pas- 


a ee 


The Letters to the Churches of Asia 125 


sage, its immediate application was to the church in 
Philadelphia actually existing in John’s day. Christ 
often speaks of His coming to an individual or a com- 
pany in a sense quite different from His personal and 
visible advent in power and glory. John himself had 
recorded the words, “I will not leave you comfortless, 
I will come to you’ (John 14:18) ; and these, “If any 
man love Me he will keep My words” (this is what 
the church in Philadelphia had done) ‘‘and My Father 
will love him, and we will come unto him” (id. v. 23). 
But we have a more direct indication than these of the 
sense of this promise; for in the preceding letter to 
Ephesus Christ had said, “Or else I will come unto thee 
quickly’’, using the same words as here (2:5). Also 
to Pergamos He had said, “‘Repent, or else I will come 
unto thee quickly” (2:16); and to Sardis likewise, “‘I 
will come on thee as a thief” 7. e. most unexpectedly 
(STEERS 

But while insisting, as we must, upon the first appli- 
cation of the passage to the church in Philadelphia, we 
believe the promise will have its final and complete 
fulfilment in the second coming of Christ, when He will 
open a door of deliverance heavenward for every 
church and every saint which and who, in a day of 
dark apostasy, is keeping His Word and not denying 
His Name. We believe too that this was intended to 
be at all times during the Lord’s absence a bright hope 
and cheering prospect before the eyes of His true 
people. 


120% The Patmos Visions 


The words, ‘‘Hold that fast which thou hast, that 
no man take thy crown’’, seem also to point to the case 
of Shebna and Eliakim as an illustration. Shebna had 
the “‘crown’’, so to speak; that is, he was “‘over the 
house’, and wore the “robe’’ and “girdle” of office; 
but God said, “I will clothe Eliakim with thy robe, and 
strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit 
thy government into his hands” (Isa. 22:15, 20-22). 
Thus another man took Shebna’s crown; and the reason 
was that he would not heed the Lord’s call to repent 
vidiz he 

Reference should also be had in this connection to 
the Lord’s parable of the nobleman, ‘“‘who went into a 
far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to 
return” (Lu. 19:11-27). When Christ sent this mes- 
sage to the Church in Philadelphia He (the “nobleman” 
of the parable) had already gone to heaven (the “far 
country’’) and had received the kingdom, for His own 
description of Himself is ‘“He that hath the key of 
David”, which declares that the kingdom had been 
given Him. And to this agree the words of Paul, 
‘Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David 
was raised from the dead according to my gospel” (2 
Tim. 2:8); and again: “And as concerning that He 
raised Him from the dead, now no more to return to 
corruption, He said on this wise, I will give you the 
sure mercies of David’ (Ac. 13:34). But the par- 
ticular feature of the parable that now concerns us is 
that which relates to the servant who hid his lord’s 
money in a napkin, and who sought to justify himself 





The Letters to the Churches of Asia 127 


by casting aspersions upon his lord’s character. Of that 
man it might be said he had not kept his lord’s wes-d, 
and had denied his name. Therefore his pound was 
taken from him and given to another. 

Let us then give all diligence to hold that fast which 
we have; for our Lord’s word is, ““That unto every one 
which hath shall be given’—a crown;—‘‘and from 
him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken 
away from him” (Lu. 19:26). 

The promise to him that overcometh, in this letter 
to Philadelphia, is as remarkable and as distinctive as 
is the introductory address: ‘‘Him that overcometh 
will I make a pillar in the temple of My God; and he 
shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the 
Name of My God, and the Name of the city of My 
God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out 
of heaven from My God; and I will write upon him 
My new Name”’. 

These promises are great beyond the power of words 
to express. We make, therefore, no attempt to explain 
them; but this only would we point out, namely, that 
the entire promise is very suggestive of David, who 
comes prominently into view in this last Book of the 
Bible (see 5:5 and 22:16)—who has indeed a place in 
it such as is given to no other man. David's longing 
desire was for the house of God (Ps. 23:6; 1 Chr. 
29 :3), and the ‘“‘one thing” he desired and sought after 
was that he might dwell in the house of the Lord all 
the days of his life (Ps. 27:4). How directly re- 


sponsive to this is the first clause of the promise, ‘I 


128 The Patmos Visions 


will make him a pillar (something permanent) in the 
temple of My God; and he shall go no more out’’! 
The crown, which speaks of royal honors, has been 
already mentioned; and now comes a reference to the 
royal City, the New Jerusalem, which answers to the 
city of David, the earthly Jerusalem. The promise of 
the new name also is connected with that City; for in 
the description John gives of it he says: ‘“The throne 
of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His ser- 
vants shall serve Him: and they shall see His face; and 
Fis Name shall be in their foreheads’ (22:3, 4). 


Vil 


To the church of the Laodiceans. Chapter 3:14-22. 

We come now to the last of the seven letters. It 
too has a very distinctive character, and conveys a most 
solemn and impressive message, one that fitly brings to 
a conclusion this, the very last of the connected dis- 
courses of Christ. 

This is a church for which the apostle Paul had had 
great conflict-(Col. 2:1; 4:15); and now we find it in 
a state of extreme spiritual destitution. 

The Lord here presents Himself as ‘“The Amen, the 
faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the crea- 
tion of God’’. These characters are not taken from 
the sevenfold description of Chapter 1:13-16; but 
they are taken from other revelations of the Lord 
Jesus Christ found in that chapter. For He is there 
presented as the “Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and 





The Letters to the Churches of Asia = 129 


the ending” (v. 8), and also as ‘“‘the faithful Witness” 
Gye 5). 

The significance of this address is evident. As I 
have sought to show above, the churches of Christ 
were placed in the world primarily to serve as wit- 
nesses to Him, and in these letters they are viewed in 
that capacity. The things which Christ commends are 
things which testify to Him; and the things He re- 
proves are things which mar the testimony of the 
churches, and tend to bring dishonor upon His Name. 
They may fail; but He is ever ‘“‘the faithful and true 
witness’. 

He moreover is “‘the Amen’’. Here again the Lord 
Jesus Christ takes to Himself one of the names of God. 
It is a remarkable name; and the connection in which it 
occurs should be carefully noted, because of the light 
it throws upon the Scripture we are studying. It is 
found in Isaiah 65:16, in the midst of a prophecy 
wherein God foretells in strong and clear words the 
overwhelming judgments that were to fall upon the 
apostate people of Israel, them ‘‘that forsake the 
Lord”; and where He foretells also that He will trans- 
fer His favor to another people, of whom He speaks 
as ‘“‘My servants”, and “My chosen” (Isa. 65 :13-15). 
This great thing which God pledged Himself to do He 
refers to as a new creation, saying, ‘‘For behold, I 
create new heavens and a new earth” (vy. 17); and He 
speaks also of creating another Jerusalem, where ‘‘the 
voice of weeping and the voice of crying” shall be ‘‘no 


130 The Patmos Visions 


— 


more heard” (vv. 18-20). And here it is that we find 
this remarkable passage: 

‘‘And ye’’—apostate Israel—“‘shall leave your name 
for a curse.unto my chosen” (cf. those who say they 
are Jews) ; “for the Lord God shall slay thee, and call 
His servants by another name’ (cf. Rev. 22:3, 4 and 
the promise to Philadelphia) : ‘“That he who blesseth 
himself in the earth, shall bless himself in the God of 
Truth’—literally Gop THE AmeEN; ‘and he that 
sweareth in the earth, shall swear by the God of 
Truth”—Gop THE |AMEN (vv. 15, 16). 

This title describes God as the One who accom- 
plishes all His purposes and all His promises. The 
Lord Jesus Christ is this God the Amen; ‘For all the 
promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen” 
(2 Cor. 1:20). ‘And most appropriately He presents 
Himself in this character in the last of the seven mes- 
sages. It is most fitting too that He should here 
couple with this revelation of Himself the statement 
that He is also, “‘the Beginning of the creation of God”. 
The position in which this last statement occurs would 
lead us to think that it is the new creation, specifically 
mentioned in Isaiah’s prophecy, that is in view; that is 
to say, the new spiritual creation begun in the resurrec- 
tion of Jesus Christ. But whichever it be, the state- 
ment is equally true. 

The spiritual condition of this church is thus de- 
scribed: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold 
nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then, be- 








The Letters to the Churches of Asia = 131 





cause thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I 
will spue thee out of My mouth”. ! 

These words strikingly describe a condition of in- 
- difference. The Laodiceans were not warm in affection 
for Christ, they were not burning with zeal in His 
cause; nor yet were they cold and altogether heartless. 
If they had been in this latter state it would have been 
easier for Him to deal with them, and there would 
have been greater likelihood that they would discover 
their real condition and need. Therefore He says, “I 
would thou wert cold or hot’. It is not easy to see 
why the Lord would rather they had been actually 
cold, than lukewarm. Therefore the following com- 
ments may be helpful: 


“The Lord speaks here only of the condition of those who 
stand in a relation to Himself. ‘So that we can think of being 
‘cold’ only in such manner as has connected with it the painful 
sensation that one is cold, and hence has a hearty desire to 
become hot. ... . In a-manner similar to the being ‘cold’ here 
the being ‘blind’ occurs in John 9:41 ‘were:ye blind (7. e. did ye 
but feel yourselves blind) ye should not have sin; but now ye 
say, We see; therefore your sin remains’. Accordingly the being 
cold is an absolutely preferable state to the being lukewarm. 
‘Would that thou wert cold’, the Lord is also saying to our 
Laodicean age. Were it but come to that, the warmth would 
soon appear of itself” (Hengstenberg). 


“One must not estimate what he has of the heat of life by his 
own feelings. A person in a state of bodily health who has a 
lively heat in his body may be himself quite unconscious of it, 
while another who takes his hand readily perceives it. So in 
spiritual things, one who is accustomed to spiritual ardour may 
be without much sensibility, such as may appear strange and 
wonderful to another of little experience in the divine life. It 





132 The Patmos Visions 


belongs also to the fundamental constitution of the soul, that 
when it burns with a fervent zeal for God, the fire within shall 
never say, ‘It is enough ”’ (Bengel). 


Christ now proceeds to declare wherein their luke- 
warmness consisted; saying, “Because thou sayest, I 
am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of 
nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and 
miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked”. 

Ignorance of its true condition, therefore, is that 
which chiefly characterized the church of the Laodi- 
ceans; thinking itself rich when in reality it was poor; 
thinking itself well supplied with all that a church of 
Christ should have, when in reality it was destitute of 
the most essential things. The state of this church is 
just the reverse of that in Smyrna, which was seem- 
ingly in poverty and tribulation, but in reality was 
prick c, 

There was no tribulation in Laodicea, no persecu- 
tions, no synagogue of Satan to molest them. ‘They 
were having a very easy and comfortable time. No 
doubt the church-machinery was of the most approved 
pattern, the equipment all up-to-date, and the ap- 
pointed routine of services regularly carried out. - Such 
churches are numerous, and to make them realize their 
actual spiritual state is ever a matter of stupendous 
difficulty. 

But the Lord does not give them over. First He 
proffers advice, ‘I counsel thee’—. Then He calls 
them to “‘repent”’, coupling that call with a most tender 
word of exhortation. Then He presents to them a 








The Letters to the Churches of Asia 133 


wondrous opportunity and possibility (v. 20). And 
finally He gives a surpassingly glorious promise (v. 
21). Thus we find the message to Laodicea full of 
encouragement. 

Christ had declared that they were “poor, blind, 
and naked’’; but in the next breath He offers to supply 
them with “‘gold’’, that they might be no longer poor; 
with white raiment, that they might be suitably clad; 
and with eye-salve, that they might see. 

1. Gold tried in the fire. In Psalm 19:7-11 David 
declares the value of the Word of God, speaking in 
detail of the Jaw of the Lord, His testimony, His 
statutes, His commandments, His judgments; and he 
says of them: ‘‘More to be desired are they than gold, 
yea, than much fine (i. e. refined) gold’. Again in 
Psalm 12:6 he says: ‘“The words of the Lord are pure 
words; as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified 
seven times”. ‘The words of the Lord are little ac- 
counted of in the church of the Laodiceans, and have 
but little part or influence in its doings. ‘The minister 
chooses a text from the Bible (unless he finds some- 
thing more appropriate to his discourse in some other 
book, or in the daily paper) ; but real ministry of the 
Word of God, a habitual unfolding of its contents and 
application of its lessons, a searching of its pages and 
a laying to heart of its admonitions, have no place in 
this church. Dross is taken for gold, and pewter for 
silver. Hence, in the very place where there is the 
most appalling spiritual poverty, the people are think- 





134 The Patmos Visions 


ing themselves rich, and increased with goods, and in 
need of nothing. : 

2. White raiment that thou mayest be clothed, and 
that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear. Again 
we have a reference to that lustrous glistening “‘white’’, 
which is the proper raiment of the saints of God. This 
is one of the symbols that is explained for us in this 
Book; for in Chapter 19:8 it is stated that the ‘‘fine 
linen, clean and white’? represents “‘the righteousness 
(or righteous acts) of the saints”. The figure of a 
robe, or garment, is sometimes used (as in Isaiah 
61:10; and Mat. 22:11) to represent the righteous- 
ness of God, which He bestows as a gift upon every 
one who believes in Jesus Christ... But here it sym- 
bolizes those acts of righteousness which should always 
adorn the conduct of God’s people. 

3. Eye-salve, that thou mayest see. The advice to 
“anoint thine eyes with eyesalve”’, suggests that the 
church of the Laodiceans was destitute of the gifts of 
the Holy Spirit, and was dependent upon church ma- 
chinery for the carrying on of all its work. For John 
speaks of the Holy Spirit as the Unction (or Anoint- 
ing) from Christ, “the Holy One” (1 John 2:20); 
and says: ‘‘But the Anointing which ye have received of 
Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man 
teach you: but as the same Anointing teacheth you all 
things, and is Truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath 
taught you, ye shall abide in Him” (y. 27). 

“Buy of Me’. Christ stands ready to supply these 
things of priceless worth to all who are willing to 


ee 


The Letters to the Churches of Asia = 135 





“buy”. He is saying, as in Isaiah 55:1, “Come ye, and 
he that hath no money; come ye, . . . buy without 
money, and without price”. Yet the word “buy” is 
used advisedly, for we are to “buy the truth;... 
also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding” 
(Proy. 23:23). Every bit of God’s truth that is really 
ours, every bit of heavenly wisdom, instruction, and 
understanding that is ours, has cost us something; and 
if we are not willing to make some sacrifice of time, 
inclination, effort, to forego some indulgence, or some 
opportunity for earthly gain or enjoyment, in order to 
enrich ourselves with heavenly treasure, then we have 
not yet learned the difference in value between tinsel 
and gold, between colored beads of glass and gems of 
the deepest mine. 

Then comes a word which reveals all of our Lord’s 
tenderness and all of His faithfulness: ‘‘As many as I 
love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous, therefore, and 
Repentas (vero). 

Sharp has been His rebuke to this lukewarm church. 
But it does not mean that He had turned away and 
abandoned them, or was about to do so. It means just 
the reverse. For He was standing near, and ready to 
supply their need, and to enrich them with all His 
treasure; and His rebuke was a proof of His un- 
changing Jove. Nor will He fail to use the rod of 
correction, if His “counsel’’, and His call to ‘‘repent’’ 
be unheeded. Of this He warns them, and then says, 
“Be zealous therefore, and repent”. The call for zeal 





136 The Patmos Visions 


is not found elsewhere. It is appropriate here, because 
of the prevailing lukewarmness. 

But He is not through yet revealing His grace to this 
church, and His yearning desire for its recovery from 
its state of spiritual tepidity, poverty, blindness and 
nakedness. So He adds this final word: “Behold, I 
stand at the door and knock: if any man hear My 
voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and sup 
with him, and he with Me’ (v. 20). 

The comment we have most frequently seen and 
heard upon this verse is to the effect that it indicates 
the well-nigh hopeless state of this church. Christ is 
outside, we are told; and then usually it is added that 
He is not expecting to be admitted, and so forth. 

But there is another view that may be taken of the 
matter, a view that is more in harmony with the deep 
concern manifested, the generous offer made, and the 
unchanging love declared, in the preceding verses. It 
is not that Christ is outside that chiefly impresses me; 
but that He is so near, even at the very door; and not 
only so, but is ready to enter instantly it is opened. 
For He is standing close by, not that He may swiftly 
visit them in judgment, but that He may come in and 
sup with them. And yet more, He is even knocking 
for admission; and not only so, but He will come in to 
“any man’’, who will hear His voice, and open the 
door. ‘This is very, very far, as I see it, from being a 
hopeless, or even a discouraging situation. 

The state of affairs at the end of this letter reminds 
us of that at the end of the great parable of Luke XV, 


The Letters to the Churches of Asta 137 


generally called the parable of the Prodigal Son, 
though it would be more properly called the parable of 
the Elder Son, seeing that the climax of the lesson has 
to do with him. In the parable, the elder son, well 
satisfied with himself, is outside the house, the door is 
open, and his father is entreating him to come in. 
Here it is the other way. The self-satisfied church is 
inside, the door is closed, and Christ is calling and 
knocking for admission. ‘The point of resemblance 
lies in this, that in both cases the story is left un- 
finished, so that we do not know how the matter ended. 
Is not God in each case saying in effect that He has 
done all that Divine Love could do, and that the eter- 
nal issue now rests with those to whom the last appeal 
has been made, and over whom Divine compassion still 
lingers? 

The message to the church of the Laodiceans is dis- 
tinctive in that it has a special word to the individual— 
“if any man”. In Thyatira the Lord recognizes a rem- 
nant of faithful ones, “the rest in Thyatira, as many 
as have not this doctrine’ (2:24); and in Sardis 
there are “a few names which have not defiled 
their garments” (3:4) ; but in Laodicea there is a word 
of strong encouragement to the individual who, amidst 
general indifference to the things of God, longs for 
personal fellowship with the Lover of his soul. For he 
has only to open the door of his inner being in order to 
have his desire fulfilled. Such a one need not do even 
so much as the disciples at Emmaus, who “constrained 





138 The Patmos Visions 


Him’’, ere “He went in to tarry” and to sup. with 
them (Lu. 24:29, 30). 

The letter closes with the greatest of all the prom- 
ises: ““I’o him that overcometh will I grant to sit with 
Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set 
down with My Father in His throne’”’. This needs no 
comment. And now in conclusion, for the seventh time 
we hear the urgent call (and may we find grace to 
heed it) ‘He that hath an ear, let him hear what the 
Spirit saith unto the churches’’. 


Tue SEVEN LETTERS VIEWED AS ONE DISCOURSE 


By many able commentators these seven letters are 
taken as constituting one connected prophecy, fore- 
telling the main developments and principal eras in the 
history of God’s people (or as some call it “the pro- 
fessing church’’) throughout this age. This idea has 
been elaborately worked out in a number of ably writ- 
ten books, and it has considerable support in “Church” 
History. For it does appear as if there had been a 
succession of periods, more or less clearly marked, cor- 
responding respectively, in a general way at least, to 
the conditions set forth in these several letters, and 
occurring in the same order; that is to say, first an 
“Ephesus” period, (loss of first love) immediately fol- 
lowing the days of the apostles; then a ““Smyrna’”’ 
period of fiery persecution, and so on. 

We do not, however, attempt to consider the letters 
from that point of view, partly because it has been 
thoroughly done in books easily obtainable, but chiefly 





The Letters to the Churches of Asta 139 


because that is certainly not the main purpose of these 
last messages of the risen Lord Jesus Christ to His 
churches. ‘They are given us, not so much to reveal 
things to come, as to admonish, encourage, warn, 
guide, and reprove, to the end that we may pass the 
time of our sojourning here in fear, and may give all 
diligence to work out our own salvation with fear and 
trembling, having respect ‘unto the recompense of the 
reward’. In each letter there are lessons for every 
church and every saint. For in each the call is to every 
one that hath an ear, to hear what the Spirit is saying, 
—not to one church in particular, but —to “the 
churches” in general. 


CHAPTER IV 


The Vision of the Throne in Heaven 


“After this I looked, and behold, a door was opened in 
heaven; and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a 
trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I 
will show thee things which must be hereafter. And imme- 
diately I was in the spirit; and behold, a throne was set in 
heaven, and One sat on the throne’. 


HE words, “Behold, A THRONE!” give us the 

subject of this superlatively wonderful and 

supremely important vision. For the throne 1s 
the central object of this scene, and every other per- 
son and thing embraced in it takes its place with refer- 
ence to that throne. In these two short chapters the 
word ‘“‘throne’”’ occurs seventeen times. ‘Thus is im- 
pressed upon us the mighty truth, which is generally 
ignored on earth, that there is a throne in heaven, and 
that all things are under the authority of Him that 
sitteth upon the throne. This is the first thing made 
evident to the consciousness of every man to whom a 
door is opened in heaven. For to men in their natural 
condition the heavens are closed, and the god of this 
world blinds their minds even to the elementary truth 
that “the Lord God omnipotent reigneth’’. 

But the special purpose of this vision is not to bring 
to mind the great truth that all things are under the 
government of God. For the scene pictured in Chap- 
ter IV is but introductory to that of Chapter V, in 


140 


The Vision of the Thronein Heaven 141 


which is revealed the glory of the risen Redeemer, 
whose presence upon that throne is what gives to this 
day of grace and salvation its distinctive character. 
For we have need at this point again to remind our- 
selves that the Book we are studying is “the revelation 
of Jesus Christ”. His participation in the government 
of the universe is concealed from the eyes of men. It 
is known, and can be known, only by revelation. What 
is shut to man he cannot by his own efforts discover. 
But the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to reveal to the 
eye of faith the hidden glories of the exalted Redeemer. 
‘Look, ye saints, the sight is glorious! See the Man 
of sorrows now!” | 

The vision of Chapters IV and V is quite discon- 
nected from that of the preceding chapters. For the 
description begins, ‘After this I looked’’—which 
means, of course, after the writing of the letters to the 
churches of Asia. ‘The ‘‘first voice as a trumpet” 
which John had previously heard speaking with him is 
that of Chapter 1:10: “I was in the spirit on the Lord’s 
Day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a 
trumpet’. ‘That voice now summons John to come on 
high through the open door which he had already seen. 
The words “immediately I was (or more correctly be- 
came) in the spirit’, show that a call to ‘‘come up 
hither” is the same as a call to be in the spirit. It 
summoned John to leave the region of the natural 
senses, and to be in the region of the supernatural, 
‘the spirit”. ‘Those words also pre-suppose that, be- 
tween the preceding vision and this present one, there 





142 The Patmos Visions 





was an interval during which John was in his natural 
state. And it is important to note this; for it is not 
possible to advance in the understanding of this Book 
until it is clearly apprehended that it does not give a 
regularly progressive disclosure of the future, but is 
divided into a number of groups, each formally com- 
plete in itself, and each beginning, not where the next 
preceding left of, but at some starting point ( it may be 
in the distant past) best suited to the special topic of 
that vision or group. 

The words, ‘Immediately I became in the spirit” 
are evidently in purposed agreement with those of 
1:10, which are the same as here, “I became in the 
spirit’, thus giving us to know that the second vision 
begins at this point. According to Bengel: “John was 
at once lifted above all that is natural and placed 
among divine things, his whole soul being filled, illumi- 
nated and occupied by these’’. 

The first part of the description (Chapter IV) pic- 
tures the throne, the assemblage of elders surrounding 
the throne, the seven lamps of fire before the throne, 
the sea of glass, and the four living creatures. This 
part closes with the worship rendered by the living 
creatures and the anthem of praise from the four and 
twenty elders to Him that sat on the throne, who 
liveth for ever and ever. The second part of the 
vision is marked by the presence upon the throne of the 
exalted Redeemer, seen as ‘‘a Lamb as it had been slain, 
having seven horns and seven eyes”. The remarkable 
circumstances of His introduction to the seer’s notice 





The Vision of the Thronein Heaven 143 


make it very evident that the main purpose of this 
vision as a whole is to reveal our glorified Saviour in 
the act of occupying His Father's throne, than which 
we can conceive of no event more worthy of being thus 
revealed, or more worthy to evoke the anthem of 
praise and adoration which bursts forth from those 
nearest the throne, and then is taken up by the myriads 
of angels that surround the throne, finally extending to 
“every creature which is in heaven, and on earth, and 
under the earth’. It is not conceivable that any other 
event could evoke this outburst of praise from all 
creation. But we are not left in any uncertainty what- 
ever as to the occasion of this transcendently impor- 
tant scene; for a comparison of the anthem at the end 
of Chapter IV with that at the end of Chapter V shows 
that the subject of the former is creation (‘‘for Thou 
hast created all things’), whereas that of the latter is 
redemption (“for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed 
Sis): 

Beyond any doubt then, we have here the “‘revela- 
tion” of that supremely glorious event by which were 
fulfilled the greatest of the prophecies, such as ‘‘Yet 
have I set My King upon Zion the mountain of My 
holiness” (Ps. 2:6) ; ‘“The LORD said unto my Lord, 
Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies 
Thy footstool” (Ps. 110:1) ; the event declared in the 
New Testament Scriptures which tell us that the risen 
Redeemer is ‘“‘gone into heaven, and is on the right 
hand of God, angels and authorities and powers being 
made subject unto Him’ (1 Pet. 3:22); that God has 





144 The Patmos Visions 


“raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own 
right hand in the heavenly places, far above all princi- 
pality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every 
name that is named, not only in this world, but also 
in that which is to come”’ (Eph. 1:20-23). 

In view of these clear indications there is, to my 
mind, no room for any doubt whatever that the group 
of visions beginning with Chapters IV and V and em- 
bracing the entire program of the seals, has for its 
historical starting-point the ascension of our risen Lord 
into heaven and His occupation of the place of which 
He alone is worthy at the right hand of the Majesty 
in the heavens; and that this group of visions has to 
do with events which began to happen from that trans- 
cendently glorious occasion. And this is the conclusion 
of a large majority, including, I think, far the ablest, 
of those who have sought to expound the contents of 
this Book,—though, of course, majorities settle noth- 
ing. 

Furthermore, the words of the Lord Himself fur- 
nish a link which directly connects this vision with the 
one preceding. For in His message to Laodicea He 
said, ‘Even as I also overcame, and am set down 
(literally, sat down) with my Father in His throne” 
(3:21). The past tenses of the verbs in this sentence 
plainly declare that the occupation by Him of His 
Father’s throne had already taken place when He ap- 
peared to John in that first vision on the isle of Patmos. 
We have therefore only to connect with this the words 
spoken by one of the elders to John, as recorded in 


The Vision of the Thronein Heaven 145 


Chapter 5:5, in order to have a complete revelation 
as to the time of the scene described in these chapters. 
That elder said: ‘‘Weep not, behold: the Lion of the 
tribe of Judah hath prevailed to open the book, and to 
loose the seven seals thereof’. And thereupon John 
looked, and saw in the midst of the throne a Lamb as it 
had been slain. The word here rendered “prevailed”’ 
is the same as is rendered “overcame” in Chapter 3 :24. 
Thus it is made plain that the vision begins at the 
point where the Lord Jesus Christ, having ‘‘overcome”’ 
by His sacrificial death (Heb. 2:14) the powers of 
evil, death, and hell, and being raised from the dead by 
the glory of the Father, “‘sat down” with Him upon 
His throne in heaven. It begins at the fulfilment of the 
words of Psalm 24:7-10: “Lift up your heads, O ye 
gates; and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors; and the 
King of Glory shall come in’. It shows us also the 
fulfilment of Daniel’s prophetic vision, who beheld the 
heavenly courts “until the thrones were set up’ (not 
cast down, as the A. V. has it), ‘‘and the Ancient of 
days did sit. . . . And behold, One like the Son of 
man came to the Ancient of days . . . and there was 
given Him dominion, and glory, and a Kingdom” 
(Dan. 7:9-14). But I do not dwell upon this vision 
of Daniel at this point, for it will be needful to refer 
to it later on. 

On the other hand, I am unable to find in the Scrip- 
tures any support at all for the view that the vision of 
Revelation IV and V shows something that is yet 
future, and that will not take place until the saints of 


146 The Patmos Visions 


God are raised, changed, and taken to heaven. The 
fact that in this vision are seen four and twenty elders, 
who are taken (and rightly) to be a representation of 
the redeemed of the Lord, lends no support whatever 
to that view, as will be shown when we come to discuss 
the several details of the vision. 

Therefore, as I view the matter, God has given us in 
this scene a symbolic representation of His two-fold 
work of Creation and Redemption; the epoch of the 
vision being that at which Redemption was accom- 
plished as regards the payment of the redemption price, 
‘‘the precious blood of Christ” (1 Pet. 1:19), when 
‘by His own blood, He entered in once (for all) into 
the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption’ 
(Heb. 9:12). There yet remain, however, many 
things to be accomplished before ‘“‘the redemption of 
the purchased possession unto the praise of His glory” 
(Eph. 1:14). For “the day of redemption” in that 
sense, unto which day we have been sealed by the Holy 

“Spirit of God (Eph. 4:30), is yet future. Between 
these two stages of the work of redemption—the pay- 
ing of the purchase price by the Lamb that was slain 
and has redeemed us to God by His blood, and the 
taking possession of the whole redeemed creation—lay 
the history of the entire dispensation of the Holy 
Spirit. And it is to such features of that history as, 
in the wisdom of God, it most behoved us to know, that 
the visions of this Book, down to Chapter 20:3, re- 
late. It is of the utmost importance then that we 
should be clear as to this; for manifestly, if such be 





The Vision of the Thronein Heaven 147 





indeed the purpose of these visions, we should wholly 
defeat that purpose, so far as we ourselves are con- 
cerned, by postponing their fulfilment to another dis- 
pensation. 


DETAILS OF THE VISION 


The Throne. As already pointed out, the central 
feature of the vision, dominating and overshadowing 
all else, is the Throne. That He who sat thereon when 
first seen by John is God the Father is apparent from 
the fact that He is distinguished from the Lamb, and 
from the seven Spirits. ‘The Kingdom is originally 
the Father’s and remains His. For Christ sits upon 
the Father’s throne’ (Bengel). What John saw in 
this vision is what Peter had proclaimed in Jerusalem 
on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:33). 


“And He that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a 
sardius; and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in 
sight like unto an emerald’. 


The three precious stones here mentioned are, of 
course, symbols; and their meaning as such lies, no 
doubt, in their respective colors. The jasper is of 
divers colors; but where it is mentioned in the descrip- 
tion of the New Jerusalem (21:11) there are the 
added words, “‘clear as crystal’’, which verse also states 
that it is the “most precious” stone, and is the light of 
the heavenly city. And that light, according to verse 
23, is “‘the glory of God’, that of His essential nature. 
This is what is here represented by the jasper. The 


148 The Patmos Visions 


sardius, according to an authority on precious stones, 
is ‘“‘red, as red flesh, dark red’. Orpheus speaks of 
the ‘‘blood-colored sardius”’, and Epiphanius says, “‘it 
is of a fiery red appearance and blood-like”. This is 
taken by some to indicate the approach of judgment, 
which is plainly in view (v. 5) even though at a dis- 
tance. By others it is thought to suggest the punitive 
righteousness of God, ‘“‘the light in its warmth, light in 
love, or its opposite anger’. ‘These are the thoughts 
that are most prominently associated with the color of 
blood-red or fiery red. When Ezekiel beheld the glory 
of the Lord approaching in judgment there was the 
appearance of “‘a fire infolding itself’’, and a “‘bright- 
ness’, a word denoting the brightest splendour there 
can be, ‘“‘the color of amber, out of the midst of the 
fire’ (Ez. 1:4); and this description is repeated in 
slightly different terms in Chapter 1:27, and 8:2. 
The Rainbow. John makes prominent mention of a 
rainbow, not incomplete as we now see it in the cloud 
after rain, but completely encircling the throne. The 
rainbow was the token of the covenant God made with 
Noah and his sons, and with every living creature, for 
perpetual generations (Gen. 9:8-17). The space 
given in Genesis (where stupendous events are related 
with severest brevity) to the rainbow, testifies to its 
importance asa symbol. But we need not enlarge upon 
its meaning. Sufficient for our purpose to state that 
the rainbow is, for those who see it, an evidence that 
the storm has already passed over the spot whereon 
they stand. This rainbow that encircles the throne of 





The Vision of the Thronein Heaven 149 


God is visible to those, and only to those, who stand 
under the shelter of the cross of Christ. The storm of 
God’s righteous indignation and burning wrath has 
already passed over the place where they stand, and 
will not visit it again. In this rainbow the color of the 
emerald predominates (for we are not to think of it as 
all green, since a green rainbow would be no rainbow 
at all) ; and green is the color of earth, as blue is that 
of heaven. This indicates that the events that are 
about to ensue have to do with the earth. Moreover, 
green is the most tender and refreshing of all colors, 
the most restful to the eye. Its presence here, along 
with the dazzling white of the jasper, and the fiery red 
of the sardius, is reassuring to our timid hearts. We 
need, indeed, to be reminded constantly of the awful 
majesty and intense holiness of God; but we are not to 
forget His grace and forbearance toward all who, 
though deserving the consuming fire of His wrath, 
have been brought to trust in His mercy and pardoning 
love. Therefore, the rainbow of emerald color is very 
comforting, especially in view of the lightnings and 
thunderings and voices that proceeded out of the 
throne (v. 5). 

The seven Lamps of fire. This is one of the symbols 
that are explained in the Book; for we are told that 
these are “‘the seven Spirits of God’. As to the 
significance of this symbol there is no need to add to 
what has been already said, except to point out that in 
it we have one of a number of correspondences between 
this scene and the appointments given by God to 





150 The Patmos Visions 


Moses for His earthly sanctuary. For it is evident, I 
think, that what John now beheld is the pattern of the 
sanctuary, which God had shown to Moses in his day, 
and concerning which He repeatedly and strictly ad- 
monished him, saying, “See that thou make all things 
according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount” 
(Heb. 8:5, quoting Ex. 25:40). To this deeply inter- 
esting aspect of our subject we purpose to return 
shortly. 

The Elders and the Living Creatures.* We view 
these together because in the description of this vision, 
and also of later ones, they are joined together in such 
a way as to indicate that in them we have a composite 
symbol, and a symbol of something very precious in 
God’s eyes, as is evident from their nearness to the 
Throne. By attention to the following passages we 
may gain much information as to the significance of 
this symbol :— 

Chapter 4:8-11. When the living creatures give 
glory, honour, and thanks to Him that sat on the 
throne, who liveth for ever and ever, the four and 
twenty elders fall down before Him that sat upon the 
throne, and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever. 

Chapter 5:7-10. When the Lamb has taken the 
seven-sealed book from the hands of Him that sat 
upon the throne, the four living creatures and the four 





* The term ‘‘beasts,’’ applied to these beings is most regrettable, particu- 
larly in view of the fact that the same term is used (and properly) to 
describe those monsters of iniquity (chaps. XIII, XVII, XIX) in which the 
powers of Satan are finally headed up and destroyed. In the original, the 
words are totally different. That used for the four creatures in heaven is 
Zoa, meaning living ones. Therefore we shall designate them by that name, 
or by their more familiar name cherubim (See Ezek. 1:5 and 10:20). 


The Vision of the Thronein Heaven 151 


and twenty elders fall down together before the Lamb, 
all having harps and golden vials full of incense, and 
together they sing the new song of the redeemed, say- 
ing, ““For Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us’. 

It should be carefully noted that in this passage the 
four living creatures join with the elders in the song 
of redemption, and expressly include themselves 
among the redeemed. 

Chapter 7:11. All the angels stand about the 
throne, and about the elders and the four living crea- 
tures. 

Chapter 14:2, 3. Voices from heaven, and harpers, 
sing as it were a new song before the throne, and 
before the four living creatures, and before the elders. 

Chapter 19:4. ‘After the fall of the mystical city 
Babylon, Alleluias are heard in heaven, ‘‘and the four 
and twenty elders and the four living creatures fell 
down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, 
saying, Amen, Alleluia’. 

In all these’passages the elders and the living crea- 
tures (sometimes one is mentioned first, and some- 
times the other) are not only associated closely 
together, but both are closely associated with the 
throne. Indeed they have a position with reference to 
the throne that no angels or other creatures share. 
These facts will help us in our attempt to ascertain the 
significance of those symbols. 

For let us remind ourselves again at this point that 
we are not looking at “‘the heavenly things themselves”’ 
(Heb. 9:23), which no mortal eye could behold, and 





L52 The Patmos Visions 


which human language could not describe; and that we 
are not looking at objects which bear any physical 
resemblance whatever to those heavenly things.” No 
one would for a moment suppose that there is any 
physical likeness between our glorified Redeemer and 
‘‘a Lamb having seven horns and seven eyes,”’ or be- 
tween the Holy Spirit of God and “seven lamps of 
fire’. What we are attempting to do is to decipher a 
description written in hieroglyphics, a description in 
which the pictures of familiar objects are used as 
representations of spiritual realities, which may be per- 
sons, or which may be moral ideas or truth, the sym- 
bols being such as merely to suggest the realities for 
which they stand, by reason of some moral likeness 
which they bear thereto. 

With this in mind, let us recall some passages in 
other parts of the Bible that throw light upon the 
scene now before us. 

The Vision of Isaiah. 

In the year of the death of the leper king of Israel, 
who had profaned the earthly sanctuary of God, Isaiah 
saw a vision of the heavenly sanctuary, and at the same 
time he received directly from the throne one of the 
most sweeping and significant of all the prophecies of 
coming judgments upon the people of Israel. This is 
his description of the vision :— 


“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord* 
sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled 
the temple. Above it (the throne) stood the seraphims: each 





* From John 12:39-41 we know that this was Christ Himself. 





The Vision of the Thronein Heaven 153 


one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with 
twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one 
cried to another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of 
hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory. And the posts of 
the door were moved at the voice of him that cried, and the 


house was filled with smoke” (Isa. 6:1-4). 


The resemblances between this vision and that of 
Revelation IV are striking. Isaiah saw the throne of 
heaven and Him who sits thereon; and above the 
throne (i..e. upon it) were the seraphim, who, like 
John’s living ones, had each of them six wings, and who 
utter the same trisagion, ‘Holy, holy, holy, the Lord 
God of hosts’. Isaiah mentions also the ‘‘door’’, and 
the great voice that he heard. Further, Isaiah tells us 
that the place into which he was permitted to look was 
‘‘the temple’. John does not state this in Chapter IV 
or V, but it is implied, as we shall see, and is plainly 
stated later on. Thus in Chapter 11:19 we read: ‘And 
the temple of God was opened in heaven”; And in 
15:8: “And the temple of God was filled with smoke 
from the glory of God, and from His power’’. 

The differences in details between the two visions do 
not indicate that the seraphim, for example, were any 
different in John’s day from what they were in Isaiah’s. 
Those differences in details are to be taken as expres- 
sive of some different aspect of truth; for obviously 
there are things revealed in John’s vision that were not 
revealed in Isaiah’s. 








164 The Patmos Visions 


The Visions of Ezekiel. 

The same living creatures were seen by Ezekiel in 
his visions; and at that time also they appeared in con- 
nection with the proclamation of Divine judgments 
upon Israel and Jerusalem. ‘They are described at 
length in Chapter 1:4-28, the description being very 
close to that given by John, (though with significant 
‘ differences). As in John’s visions, the living creatures 
were four in number (v. 5). Moreover, they com- 
bined in their make-up the likeness of a man, a lion, an 
ox, and an eagle (v. 10). Their wings are specially 
mentioned (vy. 6, 8, 9, 23, 24). They were associated 
with the throne of God (v. 26), with “‘the voice of the 
Almighty, like the noise of great waters” (v. 24), and 
also with a “rainbow”’ (v. 28). 

In Chapter 10:1-22, Ezekiel describes another vision 
of the throne and the living creatures; and of the lat- 
ter he says: ‘“This is the living creature that I saw un- 
der the God of Israel by the river of Chebar; and I 
knew that they were the Cherubims’”’ (v. 20). We 
have therefore, the clearest warrant for designating 
these wondrous and mysterious beings as the “living 
creatures’, or “‘cherubim’’. Consequently our inquiry 
is only as to the special relation of the cherubim (or 
rather, of what they represent) to the Presence and 
purposes of God. : 


Tue VIsIon oF GENEsIs 3 :24. 


We note, therefore, that the cherubim are first seen 
at the gate of the garden of Eden, being there associ- 





The Vision of the Thronein Heaven 155 


ated with the flaming sword; and that their office was 
“to keep the way of the tree of life’ (Gen. 3:24). 
Judgment against Adam and his entire race had just 
been pronounced, and the execution of his long sentence 
of banishment from the tree of life was just begun. 
But in the heart of that sentence of judgment was en- 
shrined the supreme promise of deliverance for sinful 
man, and for creation itself, through the woman’s 
Seed; and inasmuch as the function of the cherubim 
was to ‘‘keep’’, that is, to guard, the way of the tree of 
life, we may assuredly conclude that they symbolize, or 
pictorially represent, the sure purpose of God to open 
again to fallen man (His banished and outcast crea- 
ture) the way to all that is symbolized by “‘the tree of 
life’. The final and eternal accomplishment of this 
purpose is put before us, in symbolical language, in the 
last chapter of Revelation; and the main object of the 
entire Book is to present in outline the great events, in 
the course of God’s dealings with the earth, which lead 
up to the consummation of that supreme purpose. 

In the light of these facts of Scripture it is easy to 
see the reason for the re-appearance of the cherubim in 
the closing visions, here presented, of earth’s long his- 
tory; and for the prominent place given them therein. 
But this will become clearer as we proceed. Let us 
only fix in our minds the thought that the cherubim 
stand as the sign of God’s everlasting covenant con- 
cerning the earth and man, and as the pledge of its 
accomplishment. We shall see later on that the 
thought represented by the elders is involved in this 





156 Napanee 


central object of God’s work of Redemption, and that 
it gives definiteness thereto; so that the combined sym- 
bol, the four cherubim and four and twenty elders, 
represent the full purpose of God concerning the earth 
and man. 

The fact that the cherubim are four in number indi- 
cates that they represent, or have to do specially with 
the material creation; and the fact that their combined 
make-up embraces the resemblances of the man, the 
lion (chief of wild beasts) the ox (chief of tame 
beasts) and the eagle, indicates that the whole crea- 
tion, now groaning in the bondage of corruption 
(Rom. 8:21, 22), will share the benefits of the work 
of redemption. 


THE ARK OF THE COVENANT 


We come now to the Tabernacle, which occupies so 
large a space in the life and work and writings of 
Moses. In that remarkable structure, and specially in 
the Ark, which is its central feature, we have an elab- 
orate and detailed symbol of the work and ways of God 
in His dealings with men, and particularly of Christ, 
through whom His mighty plans are carried to comple- 
tion. On this we cannot now enlarge, but would only 
point out these important facts:. 1, that the taber- 
nacle, in all its parts, was a representation, a working 
model, so to speak, of what had been shown to Moses 
in the mount, and hence that what John saw in heaven 
was the original from which Moses copied the taber- 
nacle of witness; (2) that the figures of the cherubim 





The Vision of the Thronein Heaven 157 


were woven into the fabric of the tabernacle and the 
vail (Ex. 26:1, 31), and were also made of one piece 
with the “mercy-seat”’, which formed the cover of the 
ark (Ex. 25:18-22). ‘Thus it is impressed upon us by 
the details of the tabernacle and of the ark that the 
cherubim are identified in the closest way with “the 
eternal purpose’ of God “which He purposed in Christ 
Jesus our Lord” (Eph. 3:11), their figures being of 
One piece with that which represents the very heart of 
His covenant. Furthermore we observe that the gold 
figures of the cherubim stand in the same relation to 
the ark as their originals stand in relation to the throne 
in heaven; that their wings are specially mentioned; 
and that the token of judgment already executed is 
present in the blood of the sin-offering sprinkled upon 
the mercy-seat. This latter feature has the same sig- 
nificance as the rainbow in John’s vision. 

It is appropriate to notice again at this point that 
the cherubim are four in number, this being mentioned 
several times; which indicates that they represent God’s 
covenanted purpose for the whole physical creation; 
and to notice also that their wings( the power that sus- 
tains and moves them) are six, just short of the number 
of Divine perfection, showing that, although so closely 
identified with the throne of God, they are not Divine. 
The number of the elders is twenty-four, the product 
of the same two factors (four and six) that are 
associated with the cherubim. So the same truth is 
symbolized there. But the number twenty-four has 
another significance also, which will be stated presently. 





158 The Patmos Visions 


THE TEMPLE OF GoD IN HEAVEN 


In the light of the Scriptures to which we have 
briefly referred above, let us now contemplate the pic- 
ture given us in Revelation of that heavenly Sanctuary, 
whereof the tabernacle of Moses and the temple of 
Solomon were the earthly and temporary ‘‘shadows’”’ 
(Heb. 8:2; 9:23, 24; 10:1); and in so doing let us 
seek help of the Holy Spirit to look beyond the sym- 
bols He uses, to the spiritual truths and realities rep- 
resented by them. 

At a great crisis-point in the Apocalypse, namely, 
the sounding of the seventh trumpet, the following in- 
cident takes place: “And the temple of God was opened 
in heaven, and there was seen in His temple the ark of 
His covenant: and there were lightnings, and voices, 
and thunderings, and an earthquake, and ain hail” 
(Lt s19)" 

This sudden and dramatic re-appearance, out of the 
mysterious silence of Scripture that had enshrouded 
it for centuries, of the ark of the covenant of God, is 
a very striking indication that at the point of time 
here specified, namely, “the days of the voice of the 
seventh angel’ (10:6, 7), the accomplishment of all 
that was associated with that wonderful symbol is 
close at hand. And this, moreover, is in keeping with 
the word and oath of the mighty Angel of Chapter 
10, that “in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, 
when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God 


The Vision of the Thronein Heaven 159 


should be finished, as He hath declared to His servants 
the prophets” (10:6). 

Therefore, and in order that we may gain a clearer 
knowledge of these transcendent matters, let us care- 
fully consider the features here revealed of God's 
heavenly Sanctuary, comparing the earthly “‘patterns”’ 
(Heb. 9:23) with their heavenly counterparts. 

VaeliterOnTOne. § . 

This is what was represented by the ark, for that 
was the place of God’s holy Presence, of whom it was 
said that ‘“‘He dwelleth between the cherubim” (1 Sa. 
4:4). It is the throne of righteousness and judgment, 
for these are declared to be “the habitation of His 
throne” (Psa. 97:2). But that throne becomes the 
‘throne of grace’’, when the slain and risen Lamb oc- 
cupies it, after having borne for us the just judgment 
of God, and having fulfilled all righteousness by His 
sacrificial death. This is what is shown to us in Chap- 
ter 5; and the promise of it is already there in the 
rainbow. 

Nothing more need be said in order to identify the 
ark of the covenant with the throne of God in heaven. 

2. The Seven Lamps of Fire 

It is clear that the golden candlestick (or lamp- 
stand) with its seven branches and seven lamps, sup- 
plied with pure olive oil (a type of the Holy Spirit), 
by whose light all the service of the earthly sanctuary 
was accomplished, answers to the ‘‘seven lamps of 
fire’, which John saw before the throne in heaven. 
The correspondence in this case is so apparent that no 


‘oe The Patmos Visions 


one could miss it. Let this then serve to remind us 
that the things of Christ can be seen only by the Spirit: 
of whom the Lord Himself promised, saying, “He 
shall glorify Me; for He shall receive of Mine, and 
shall show it unto you” (John 16:14). For “the nat- 
ural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; 
neither can he know them, because they are spiritually 
dtscerned) iy) (Lh iCor. 2 clay, 

3.. The Elders. 

To the study of this symbol we should give the 
closest attention, for much depends upon a right ap- 
prehension of it. he elders are twenty-four in num- 
ber, and are seated upon thrones surrounding the 
throne of God. ‘They are clothed in white raiment, 
and have on their heads crowns of gold (4:4). Later, 
after the Lamb occupies the throne, they are seen with 
“harps and golden vials full of odors (or incense, 
marg.) which are the prayers of saints’ (5:8). These 
features, along with others, make it clear that the 
elders are a symbol of God’s purpose for His elect peo- 
ple. What answered to them in the earthly sanctuary 
was the twelve loaves of the shewbread, which rested 
upon the table, which like the ark itself, was made of 
the fragrant and imperishable acacia (or shittim) 
wood, overlaid with pure gold. Thus the table was 
associated closely with the ark, even as the elders are 
associated with the throne in heaven (Ex. 25 :23-30) ; 
and from the identity of the materials we deduce the 
truth of God’s “‘purpose’’, that the redeemed should 
all be conformed to the image of His Son (Rom. 8:28, 


The Viston of the Thronein Heaven 161 


29) and eventually be changed into His likeness (1 
John 3:2); or in other words that they “might be par- 
takers of the divine nature’ (2 Pet. 1:4). In the fact 
that the elders are seated upon thrones and have upon 
their heads crowns of gold, we read God’s purpose 
that they should be kings, sharing with the King of 
kings the honors and glories of His supreme royalty 
and dominion; and in the fact that they have vials 
and offer incense before the throne, we read God's 
purpose to make them priests unto Himself. In a 
word, we see in these elders a pictorial representation 
of what John declared in his ascription of praise to 
Christ Jesus in Chapter I, where he describes Him as 
“the Prince of the Kings of the earth” and says, ‘‘Unto 
Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His 
own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto 
God, even His Father, be glory and dominion for ever 
and ever’’. 

These words speak of this as having been already 
done; and so likewise the symbol of the twenty-four 
elders seen in heaven, tells us that God, who sees the 
end from the beginning, views this purpose of His as 
already accomplished in Christ. 

The number twenty-four is twice twelve, which is 
the product of the factors three and four, the former 
being the numerical symbol of Divine Being, and the 
latter that of the earth. Therefore the numerical sym- 
bols agree with what these elders say concerning them- 
selves; namely, that they are ‘redeemed to God out of 
every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation” 


162 The Patmos Visions 


(5:9); and they also witness to the close union of God 
with His redeemed people. 

The number twenty-four is also the product of the 
factors twelve and two. Now the government of God 
is represented in the Old Testament by the heads or 
elders of the twelve tribes of Israel, and in the New 
Testament by the twelve apostles. We see also the 
recurrence of the number twelve and its multiples in 
connection with the people of God (7:4-8; 12:1; 
14:1), and in connection with the Holy City. In the 
description of the latter, mention is made of ‘“‘the 
twelve tribes of Israel’, and of “the twelve apostles 
of the Lamb”’; the city having twelve gates and twelve 
foundations, and at the gates twelve angels; its dimen- 
sions being twelve thousand furlongs, and the thick- 
ness of its walls a hundred and forty-four cubits 
(twelve times twelve) (21:12-21). From these in- 
dications the significance of twelve as a numerical sym- 
bol is clear; and therefore we may take the number 
twenty-four as representing the redeemed of both dis- 
pensations. 

The term ‘‘showbread” means literally bread of the 
face, signifying that which is placed as a memorial be- 
fore the Face of God. Hence the suitability of this 
symbol to represent those who are “‘before the throne 
of God and serve Him day and night in His temple”’ 
CLAS); 

With all these facts before us it should cause us no 
surprise that when John was given to see the temple 
of God in heaven at the time of the ascension and en- 





The Vision of the Thronein Heaven 163 


thronement of the Lord Jesus Christ, he should have 
seen there the symbols of God’s eternal purpose for us, 
His redeemed people, and symbols also (the cherubim) 
of the whole redeemed creation. Rather would it 
have been surprising if there had been no such sym- 
bols there. Hence the presence of the “‘elders”’ sur- 
rounding the throne of God in heaven does not at all 
support the view that the vision belongs to that future 
day when the redeemed shall be there in person. What 
the vision shows us in this respect is that, just as God 
had directed that in His earthly sanctuary there should 
be the memorials ever before Him (“before Me al- 
way’, Ex. 25:30) of His purpose to have a people 
for His own possession, even so that purpose was ever 
before Him, suitably symbolized, in His heavenly 
temple, “‘the true tabernacle’. 

This feature of the vision very fitly and beautifully 
illustrates the truth declared in the first chapter of 
Ephesians. There we read of what God has eternally 
“purposed in Himself’? concerning those whom He 
hath chosen in Christ “before the foundation of the 
world’. ‘The language of this passage seems to lift 
us above the limits of time, and to give us a view of 
the great plans of God as seen by Him who inhabits 
eternity, and with whom there is no past or future, 
but all is simultaneously before His eye. For we are 
spoken of as having been chosen “before the founda- 
tion of the world”; showing that even then we existed. 
in the view of God, and were personally known by 
Him. Moreover, it is also there stated concerning us 


nC EEE EST STEER CETTE TE SECS TENE TET SCE TET CRS ES TESTERS SRE SOT 


164 The Patmos Visions 


that God has already “blessed us with all spiritual 
blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus’ (Eph. 
1:3); and further that He has already “‘quickened us 
together with Christ’, and “raised us up together, and 
made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” 
(Eph. 2:5, 6). The past tenses in this great passage 
agree perfectly with what John was given to see in 
symbolic vision. ‘The correspondence is perfect. Paul 
declares that we are already quickened together with 
Christ, raised up (that is, on high) and seated together 
in heavenly places in Christ. And that is precisely what 
John sees when given a vision of Christ’s ascension to 
the throne in heaven. Particularly do the words ‘‘and 
made us sit together in heavenly places” afford con- 
firmation of John’s vision of the elders “‘sitting’’ upon 
their thrones in heaven, for the word “sit”? in Ephe- 
sians 2:6 means to sit on a throne. So there is the 
closest agreement between the two passages. Each de- 
clares that God views all the redeemed as in Christ 
Jesus, raised from the dead, and ascended into heaven. 

The number twenty-four is sometimes referred to 
David's division of the priests into twenty-four classes 
for their service at Jerusalem. But that was a purely 
human arrangement for convenience in the division of 
labor; it has no analogy at all with this scene in heaven, 
where the redeemed are enthroned, all together (not a 
few at a time), and where it is their character of kings, 
not that of priests, that is emphasized. The remark 
of Zullig, that “the Book hardly ever alludes to any- 
thing not Biblical”, is true; and attention to it will 


The Vision of the Thronein Heaven 165 


keep us from straying into the boundless fields of 
imagination. The right view is given by many of the 
older (as well as by some of the more modern) com- 
mentators. Bousset states it thus: 


“It is the totality of the Old and New Testament saints 
who are here represented. ‘Those of the Old appeared in the 
twelve patriarchs and those of the New in the twelve apostles. 
The same-totality of saints is represented afterwards in the 
twelve gates of the holy city on which were written the names 
of the twelve tribes, and in the twelve foundations of that city, 
on which were written the names of the twelve apostles’. 

With this verse we may profitably compare Isaiah 
24:23, where, in a passage that speaks of coming 
judgment, it is written: ‘“Then the moon shal! be con- 
founded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts 
shall reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and be- 
fore His ancients (elders) gloriously’’. 

4. The Golden Altar and its Vessels. 

Reference is made in several passages to the golden 
altar (Rev. 6: 9; 8:3); and we read also of ‘‘golden 
vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints”’ 
(5:8). Again in Chapter 8 we read of an Angel who 
came and stood at the golden altar just before the be- 
ginning of the trumpet judgments, and that to him 
‘there was given much incense, that he should offer it 
with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar 
which was before the throne”. Thus in the heavenly 
sanctuary there was a golden altar, of which that in 
the earthly sanctuary was a ‘“‘pattern’’. 





166 The Patmos Pico 


Si hhe Laver. 

John saw before the throne “‘a sea of glass like unto 
crystal” (4:6). This answers to the laver in the earthly 
sanctuary, which, in Solomon’s temple. was also termed 
aneseay (be Wingsn/i-2.0)) oeneslaver sol themtavenr 
nacle was made of the highly polished copper mirrors 
of the women (Ex. 38:8). This was an appropriate 
use for those mirrors; for it is not well for us, while 
in the mortal bodies of our humiliation, to be occupied 
with our looks, seeing it is only a sin-disfigured coun- 
tenance that a mirror can reflect.. Furthermore, the 
laver (with the water it contained) was a constant 
reminder to the priests and people of their need of 
cleansing. It is suggestive of the Word of God in its 
double office of first revealing (as a mirror) the de- 
filement of the person, and then (as by water) remoy- 


Cane it. 


But the heavenly counterpart is a sea of glass like 
unto crystal. For there is no need there of any water 
to cleanse God’s priests as they approach the place of 
His Presence. There is no defiling thing there: for we 
read, ‘There shall in no wise enter into it anything 


that defileth” (21:27). 


Thus we see that, of the principal appointments of 
the earthly sanctuary nearly all have corresponding 
features in the temple of God in heaven. There are, 
however, several notable exceptions; for there is no 
brazen altar there, and no vail. ‘These differences are 
both appropriate and significant. There is no altar of 





The Vision of the Thronein Heaven 167 


sacrifice above, for that particular “‘shadow” of the 
law pertained to the time of imperfection; and it was 
for the offering of sacrifices in which God had no 
pleasure, for the reason that they could “never take 
away sins’. But in heaven is seen “a Lamb as it had 
been slain” (5:6), the symbol of that “one sacrifice, 
for sins,” whereby Christ accomplished eternal re- 
demption, and at the same time abolished the brazen 
altar and its defective sacrifices. 

There is in heaven no vail dividing the sanctuary 
into two parts, and for the same reason that there is 
no brazen altar there. ‘The vail in the tabernacle and 
temple on earth signified that ‘‘the way into the holiest 
of all was not yet made manifest” (Heb. 9:8). More- 
over, that vail represented the body prepared for the 
Lord Jesus Christ during ‘“‘the days of His flesh’’; for 
the Scriptures distinctly speak of the way into the 
holiest of all, ‘‘which He hath consecrated for us, 
through the vail, that is to say, His flesh’ (Heb. 
10:20). For when our Lord died upon the cross, thus 
putting away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, then the 
vail was rent in twain from the top to the bottom 
(signifying that it was God’s own act from above) ; 
so that God’s priests can now come boldly and at all 
times into His presence, their hearts having been 
sprinkled from an evil conscience, and their bodies 
washed with pure water (Heb. 10:19-22). 

The groupings of these symbols and celestial beings, 
with respect to the throne and to Him who sat upon it, 
should be specially noticed. First there is the ‘‘rain- 





¢ 68 The Patmos Visions 


bow round about the throne’, speaking of mercy to 
follow judgment, and reminding us that ‘‘mercy re- 
joiceth against judgment’’. 

Then there are the living creatures or cherubim “‘in 
the midst of the throne and round about the throne’. 

Then there are the four and twenty elders seated 
upon seats (literally thrones) forming another circle 
‘‘round about the throne’. 

Surrounding these are “‘many angels’ forming a 
larger circle “round about the throne” (5:11). 

And lastly there is a vast circle, the outermost of all, 
embracing “‘every creature which is in heaven, and on 
earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, 
and all that are in them” (5:13). 

From this may be gathered that the event here sym- 
bolized is of transcendent interest to the entire uni- 
verse; and that will help us determine the event itself. 


As already noticed, the vision is in two parts. In 
the first (Chapter IV) the only action is the worship 
of the four living creatures and the four and twenty 
elders; and the theme of their worship is Creation, as 
clearly appears by the words of their anthem: ‘‘Thou 
art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and 
power; for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy 
pleasure they are (i. e., they exist) and were created” 
(4:11). 

This first scene of the vision seems intended to show 
by symbols what was characteristic of heaven, and of 
worship in the heavenly sanctuary, before Christ arose 





The Vision of the Thronein Heaven 169 


from the dead and sat down upon His Father’s throne. 
It lends impressiveness to that stupendous event, which 
is symbolically represented in the second scene. 


THE SEVEN-SEALED BOOK 


In the second scene of this great vision, the atten- 
tion of the seer was specially directed to a “‘book”’, or 
scroll (for such in those days was the form of books, 
and of important documents, such as title deeds, royal 
edicts, and the like). This scroll was “in the right 
hand of Him that sat on the throne”. The book was 
written on both sides, having been sealed with seven 
seals. 3 

That book assuredly represents something of the 
very greatest moment. This is evident from these 
factsin).. It was in or/at the right hand.of God.)2:. it 
was completely sealed, as signified by the seven seals. 
3. The call for one worthy to open it and loose the 
seals thereof, was uttered by a strong angel with a loud 
voice. 4. No one* in heaven, or in earth, or under 
the earth was found worthy to openit. 5. This caused 
John great distress, which shows that the finding of 
one worthy to open the book was a matter of highest 
consequence. 6. The words spoken by one of the 
elders, ‘““The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of 
David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose 
the seven seals thereof,” testify plainly that even the 
Son of God was not qualified to receive the book until, 
as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, 


* The word is ‘‘no one,” not “no man.” 








170 The Patmos Visions 


He had “‘prevailed”’ (or “‘overcome’’), that is, had by 
His death and resurrection triumphed over all the 
powers of evil and all the enemies of God. 7. Christ, 
the One who was found “worthy to take the book and 
to open the seals thereof” (v. 9) is symbolized by “‘a 
Lamb, as it had been slain’’; which shows that it was 
only by His death that even He could qualify to take 
this book as a matter of right, and open its seven seals. 
8. When He has taken the book out of the right hand 
of Him that sat on the throne, there are transports of 
joy in heaven, beginning with the living creatures and 
the elders, then extending to the myriads of angels 
round about the throne, and finally reaching to “‘every 
creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and 
under the earth, and such as are in the sea, even all 
that were in them’’. 

What then is the significance of this book, and of 
its being given into the hands of the slain and risen 
Lamb of God, whereby creation from its center to its 
remotest bounds is so profoundly moved? We believe 
that by paying attention to the context, and to other 
pertinent Scriptures, cited below, we shall obtain a 
clear and satisfactory answer to this question; and it is 
most needful to have it, for otherwise we could not 
understand what follows. 

The words of the living creatures and elders, ‘Thou 
art worthy to take the book” (v.9), in connection with 
the words of the hosts of angels, “worthy is the Lamb 
that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wis- 
dom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and bless- 





The Vision of the Thronein Heaven 171 


ing’ (v. 12), show that the delivery of this book into 
the hands of Jesus Christ carried with it the seven 
things mentioned by the angels. It was a formal cere- 
monial act, whereby He was recognized as the Supreme 
Ruler of the universe, “‘the blessed and only Potentate, 
the King of kings, and Lord of lords” (1 Tim. 6:15), 
and whereby He was invested with royal honors, glor- 
ies, powers, and dignities. For when He took the 
book, this regal power, honor and glory, is precisely 
what the angels declared Him ‘worthy to receive’. 
Therefore, the passage itself makes it quite clear 
that this part of the vision presents to our view that 
supremely important epoch whereof many Scriptures 
speak, that to which our Lord Himself specially re- 
ferred when He spake in parable of the nobleman who 
went into a far country “‘to receive for himself a king- 
dom” (Lu. 19:12). And, beholding this wondrous 
vision, we too can say with the writer of Hebrews: 
“We see not yet all things put under Him; but we see 
Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for 
the suffering of death, crowned with glory and hon- 
our’- (Heb. 2:8, 9). . All the eight features of: the 
vision enumerated above point to the same conclusion. 
Indeed we have only to reflect upon the matter in the 
light of all Scripture, in order to realize that there is 
no event revealed to us that could be made to harmon- 
ize with the extraordinary features of this vision, other 
than the triumphant entrance into heaven of the Victor 
over sin, death, and the Devil, and the bestowal upon 
Him of that Kingdom which all the prophets had fore- 





line The Patmos Visions 


told, which He Himself while on earth had announced 
as at hand, and which His servants on earth proceeded 
forthwith to preach to every kindred and tongue and 
people and nation, with the power of the Holy Ghost 
sent down from heaven. 

We shall find moreover, that the conclusion con- 
cerning the seven-sealed book, which we draw from the 
passage itself, agrees with all the great prophecies of 
Scripture that had gone before, and also with the 
events that followed the opening of the several seals. 


Psat II 


Turning back to the O. T. prophecies, we naturally 
go first of all to that great prophecy concerning Christ 
and His Kingdom given through David in the second 


Psalm. The first prediction in that prophecy shows us. 


the kings of the earth setting themselves in array, and 
the rulers taking counsel together, against the LORD 
and against His Anointed; and this prediction, accord- 
ing to Acts 4:25-28, was fulfilled in the rejection and 
crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Then follows, in the 
Psalm, God’s response to earth’s refusal to accept and 
submit to His King: “Yet have I set My King upon 
Zion, the mountain of My holiness”; and this is what 
is pictured for us in Revelation 5:6, where the Lamb 
once slain takes His place upon the throne of God. 
The prophecy would lead us to expect that event to 
follow immediately after the first. Some, we know, 
would postpone this prophecy (along with other 
prophecies concerning the KINGpoM of God) to a time 


~~ 





The Vision of the Thronein Heaven 173 


yet future, and would make it mean the setting up again 
of the Jewish kingdom, with Jesus Christ as the occu- 
pant of the throne thereof, on the site of David's pal- 
ace in the earthly Jerusalem. But, apart from other 
weighty objections to the entire scheme of futurism, 
of which the above idea is a part, we point to the fact. 
that in Psalm II God speaks of setting His King upon 
His Holy Mountain (not “hill”, as in the A. V.) which 
of course is the heavenly mount, to which we (the fol- 
lowers of Jesus Christ) ‘fare come’ (Heb. 12:22). 
For a further proof of this we refer to the vision of 
Revelation 14:1, where John looked, ‘‘and lo, a Lamb 
stood on the mount Sion’’. 

Going back to Psalm II, we next hear the voice of 
Christ, saying, “I will declare the decree: the LORD 
hath said unto Me, Thou art My Son: this day have 
I begotten Thee. Ask of Me, and I shall give thee the 
heathen (or nations) for Thine inheritance, and the 
uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession’. This 
we take it, is what is pictured in verse 7 of Revelation 
V, where Christ takes the book out of the right hand 
of Him that sat on the throne. For God thus gives 
Him the “‘decree’’, whereby He becomes the sovereign 
Lord of all the nations of the world, and the Possessor 
of the uttermost parts of the earth. Thus the things 
symbolized in the vision of John agree perfectly with 
the things predicted in the Psalm of David. And with 
this agrees also the fact that, according to the vision 
of Revelation V and VI, when Christ proceeds to pub- 





174. The Patmos Visions 


lish the decree by opening the seals thereof, the effects 
are seen in happenings on earth. 

Psalm CX. 

We have also in this vision the fulfilment of Psalm 
110, which begins, ‘“The LORD said unto My Lord, 
Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies 
Thy footstool”. Several New Testament Scriptures 
declare that our Lord, immediately upon His ascension 
into heaven, sat “on the right hand” of God (Mk. 
P6219 WACl 7 S67 ROM oso 4 meebo tvs alt= 
possible therefore, without setting aside the plainest 
statements of Scripture, to postpone this session of 
Christ at God’s right hand to a future time. And this 
settles the question we are considering. 

That Christ came to “‘the right hand’? of Him that 
sat on the throne, is shown in the vision itself. This 
makes it quite plain that the vision pictures the fulfil- 
ment of the great promise of the 110th Psalm, and 
that the time of the vision is the time of our Lord’s 
ascension into heaven. Thus we are certified that the 
starting-point for the happening of the events fore- 
shown to John in these visions, the ‘‘things which must 
be hereafter’ (4:1), is the ascension of Christ into 
heaven. 

Other predictions of Psalm 110 are fulfilled from 
that time on. Thus the prediction, ““The Lord shall 
send the rod of Thy strength out of Zion: rule Thou 
in the midst of Thine enemies’’, was fulfilled when the 
Holy Spirit was sent down from heaven to be the 


power of Christ in His Kingdom on earth (Rom._ 


i 





The Vision of the Thronein Heaven 175 


14:17; 1 Cor. 4:20, 21; note the ‘“‘rod” in v. 21). He 
came forth ‘‘out of Zion’”’. Christ’s people, moreover, 
are “‘willing”, in this day of His power; for He now 
reigns in the midst of enemies, and only over a people 
who willingly take His yoke upon them, 

Verse 4 of the Psalm says: ‘“The Lord hath sworn 
and will not repent, Thou art a priest forever after the 
order of Melchisedek”; and the Epistle to the He- 
brews was written particularly to show the fulfilment 
of this prophecy, and its consequences in abolishing 
the whole Jewish system of worship;—temple, altar, 
sacrifices and priesthood—and in transferring the wor- 
ship of God from the earthly to the heavenly sanctu- 
ary, and changing its character from worship by shad- 
ows to worship “‘in spirit and in truth”. The concur- 
rent testimony of Psalm 110:4, of the Epistle to the 
Hebrews, and of the revelation in heaven of the spir- 
itual counterparts of the appointments of the earthly 
tabernacle, very convincingly proves that the visions 
we are now beginning to study belong to this present 
era of the gospel, and not to an era that is yet future. 

Furthermore, Psalm 110 carries us on, as this vision 
also does, to the day of wrath (Rev. 6:17); for we 
read in verse 5, “The Lord at Thy right hand shall 
strike through kings in the day of His wrath’; and 
verse 6 speaks further of that day of judgment and 
wrath. 

Daniel VII. 

We have already referred to the vision of Daniel 
VII; but it is appropriate at this point to compare 





176 The Patmos Visions 


more in detail these two visions, and to observe their 
striking and significant resemblances. 

That part of Daniel’s vision which corresponds with 
the vision of Revelation IV and V, is described in 
verses 9-14. The subject of the entire vision is the 
course of earth-rule in the hands of man, which was 
to pass from one to another of four great empires, 
pictured as four wild beasts, diverse one from another. 
Daniel sees those beasts rise successively out of the 
sea, until the last of the four comes into view, which 
he describes as “dreadful, and terrible, and strong 
exceedingly”, and as having “great iron teeth’, and 
‘‘ten horns’. I reserve our detailed comment on this 
beast to a more appropriate place, and here would only 
observe that, in common with practically all evangelical 
commentators, I take this beast as representing the 
Roman empire. | 

But at this point ‘something else comes into view; 
for Daniel says: 

‘I beheld till the thrones were cast down (more cor- 
rectly were set) and the Ancient of days did sit, whose 
garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head 
like the pure wool: His throne was like the fiery flame, 
and His wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued 
and came forth from before Him: thousand thousands 
ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thou- 
sand stood before Him: the judgment was set, and the 
books were opened’’. 

The particulars of resemblance between this scene 
and that of Revelation IV and V are so plain that I 





The Viston of the Thronein Heaven 177 


do not stop to point them out. And now comes the 
culmination of Daniel’s vision, which agrees strikingly 
with that of John, and therefore throws clear light 
upon it: 

“T saw, in the night, visions: and behold, one like a 
Son of man, came with the clouds of heaven, and came 
to the Ancient of days, and they brought Him near 
before Him. And there was given to Him, dominion 
and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations and 
languages should serve Him. His dominion is an ever- 
lasting dominion, and His kingdom that which shall 
not be destroyed’. 

It surely is not to be supposed, in the absence of 
proof, that there could be two distinct events, each of 
such a momentous character as shown in these two 
visions, and so much alike in all their revealed fea- 
tures. So we find in this Scripture additional and ex- 
ceedingly strong confirmation of the view that the de- 
livery of the seven-sealed book to the Lamb that 
had been slain symbolizes the giving to our risen Lord 
of that everlasting Kingdom which had been promised 
Him from of old as Son of man and Son of David. 

Finally, as regards the details of this vision, we ob- 
serve that the “Lamb as it had been slain” is p‘ctured 
as having seven horns, signifying the perfection of 
kingly power, and seven eyes, signifying the perfection 
of spiritual wisdom. ‘Thus the symbol represents pic- 
torially exactly what the apostle says of ‘‘Christ cruci- 
fied” (the Lamb slain), namely that His is “‘the power 
of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 1:23, 24). 





178 The Patmos Visions 


John’s description tells us, moreover, that the seven 
eyes ‘‘are the seven spirits of God, sent forth into all 
the earth’’, which reminds us again that all the fullness 
of the Spirit is His, and declares further that the full- 
ness of the Spirit is now, in this day of grace, “‘sent 
forth” to accompany the gospel of Christ, “‘into all the 
earth’. 

In the interpretation of the Book of Revelation as 
a whole, much depends upon where we locate this 
vision of the Throne. Therefore I earnestly ask those 
who have accepted the futurist view to inquire as to 
what evidence they have for placing this vision at the 
beginning of the next dispensation, instead of at the 
beginning of the present dispensation, which is the 
time when, according to many plain Scriptures, the 
slain Lamb of God ascended His Father’s throne, and 
assumed His regal powers and glories. My own con- 
clusion, after a painstaking examination of the evi- 
dences, and with certainly no prejudice against the 
futurist system (but rather the reverse), is that there 
is not a scrap of evidence for postponing this vision; 
but on the contrary, there is the most abundant and 
convincing proof that it was gloriously fulfilled when 
the mighty Conqueror over death and the grave re- 
entered the courts of heaven. 


CHAPTER V 


The Opening of the Seals 


HE vision is continued in Chapter VI. There 

we are given to see how the throned Redeemer 

proceeds to exercise the sovereign authority that 
has just been placed in His hands. He opens the seals 
successively, up to and including the sixth, after which 
the action is interrupted for a description of a distinct 
vision, (Chapter VII) the subject of which is related 
to the events of the sixth seal. ‘The opening of the 
seventh seal is mentioned at the beginning of Chapter 
VIII. 

Keeping in mind the form of the book, namely, a 
long strip of parchment tightly rolled up and sealed 
with seven seals, the description before us would give 
the impression that the Lord breaks the first seal, and 
thus opens the contents of the book as far as the 
second seal; then He opens that seal, and further un- 
rolls the scroll; and so on till the book is fully unrolled. 
Thus He brings to view progressively the theretofore 
hidden purposes of God, and at the same time exercises 
His authority in putting those purposes into operation. 

For it must ever be remembered that while the risen 
Son of God is the supreme and absolute Ruler of the 
whole creation of God, ‘‘the blessed and only Poten- 
tate’, yet His every act is in perfect accord with the 
will of His Father. God “worketh all things after the 


179 





180 The Patmos Visions 





counsel of His own will” (Eph. 1:11); and “known 
unto God are all His works, from the beginning of the 
world” (Ac. 15:18). Christ has indeed all power (or 
authority) in heaven and in earth (Mat. 28:18), but 
He ‘‘delights” (Ps. 40:8) to exercise that power in 
carrying out the determined counsels of God the 
Father. Therefore the unrolling of the book has two 
effects: first, it brings to view the previously hidden 
purposes of God; and second, it starts into operation 
events whereby those purposes are accomplished. 
Some expositors have regarded the book in the right 
hand of Him who sat upon the throne as the sealed 
title-deeds to the redeemed creation, whereby the Re- 
deemer was invested with the ownership of what He 
had purchased at the price of His own blood. This 
view is supported by the incident of the purchase by 
Jeremiah, at God’s command, of his uncle’s field, just 
before the captivity; for his uncle, by the Word of the 
Lord, said to him: “Buy my field; . . . for the right 
of inheritance is thine, and the redemption is thine’’. : 
Thereupon Jeremiah bought that field; ‘‘And’’, said 
he, “I subscribed the evidence and sealed it” (Jer. 32: 
61-10). Subsequently the Lord further commanded 
him concerning the matter, saying: ‘“Take these evi- 
dences, this evidence of the purchase, both which is 
sealed, and this evidence which is open, and put them 
in an earthen vessel, that they may continue many 
days” (vi. 14). The earthen vessel is suggestive of the 
body of flesh which Christ assumed for the work of 
redemption. And in the Lamb as it had been slain, 








The Opening of the Seals 181 


holding the sealed book in His hands, we have a com- 
plete picture of the evidences of redemption, both that 
which was sealed (the book), and that which was open 
(the visible marks of His death). 

Other expositors have regarded the book or scroll as 
simply a book of prophecy, the opening of which 
brings to view things to come. That view would make 
it identical with the Book of the Revelation itself; and 
indeed some have so explained it. But while the scroll 
sealed with seven seals is indeed a book of prophecy, 
it is such only in the sense that, as its seals are suc- 
cessively broken, the purposes of God are manifested 
by the actions that follow. Thus it is only incidentally 
that it reveals things that were to come to pass. It is 
not from the book, but from the vision, that John 
learns of those future events. 

In either view of the matter it is difficult to imagine 
upon what theory the receiving of it by the slain Lamb, 


-and the opening of the seals thereof, is to be postponed 


till the close of this dispensation, and is to be located in 


NS. tes 


the brief interval between the taking away of the 
Lord’s people from the earth and the commencement 
of His millennial reign. 

That view seems to be quite arbitrary and fanciful. 
After much painstaking examination of the writings of 
those who entertain it, | have found no evidence at all 
to sustain it. On the contrary, it seems clear that, 
however the significance of the sealed book may be 
explained, the delivery thereof to the slain and risen 





182 The Patmos Visions 


Redeemer must be located at the time of His exaltation 
to the throne of God. 

The fact that the book is written on both sides 
suggests the two spheres wherein the risen Christ was 
given ‘all power’’, namely, heaven and earth. It also 
suggests the two sides of creation, the outside, or phy- 
sical, and the inside, or spiritual; and that the events 
following the opening of the seals lie some on the one 
side and some on the other. Some expositors have over- 
looked the unseen world, and have failed in their ex- 
planations because they have vainly sought some his- 
torical event on earth to correspond with every vision, 
and every symbol. An example which illustrates my 
meaning will present itself immediately in the case of 
the events that were seen at the opening of the first 
four seals. 


THe Four HorsgEs AND THEIR RIDERS 


As in the case of the preceding chapters, the divisions 
of Chapter VI are clearly marked. The actions under 
the first four seals have features in common, which 
mark them as constituting a distinct group. For at 
the breaking of each seal one of the living creatures 
(each in his turn ) says in thunderous tones; ‘‘Come and 
see’; and in each case what John sees is a horse and 
his rider going forth. 

The vision seen at the opening of the fifth seal is of 
a wholly different sort (vv. 9-11). And that seen at 
the opening of the sixth is also quite distinctive (vv. 





The Opening of the Seals 183 


12-17), being unlike the group of four, and unlike that 
of the fifth seal. 


THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE HORSE AS A BIBLE 
SYMBOL 


For a right understanding of this part of the 
Apocalypse it is needful first of all to learn the signifi- 
cance of the horse as a Biblical symbol. ‘This, however, 
is not a matter of difficulty, for to find the desired 
meaning it requires only that careful attention be given 
to what is written concerning that animal. That in- 
formation must be sought in the Old Testament; for 
the horse is not mentioned in the New, except in 
Revelation. In the expositions I have read, little or no 
consideration has been given to the significance of the 
horse as a Bible symbol. Attention has been concen- 
trated upon the several riders. And of course, expla- 
nations which ignore the most prominent feature could 
not fail to be defective and unsatisfactory. 

Viewing the subject broadly in the light of Scripture, 
it will be seen that the horse is first of all the symbol of 
strength, might, or force of a certain kind; not strength 
for labor, like the ox, or for the magtery of enemies, 
like the lion; but of might for conquest, and for prog- 
ress. Characterized as he is by strength combined with 
speed and fearlessness, the horse fitly symbolizes that 
form of spiritual vitality and power that sustains, ener- 
gizes, and carries forward, despite all that opposes, a 
great spiritual movement, whether good or evil. Espe- 
cially does it typify strength and courage for conflict. 


184. The Patmos Visions 


God’s own description of the characteristics with 
which He has endowed the horse should be specially 
noted. Addressing Job He said: “Hast thou given the 
horse strength? hast thou clothed his neck with thun- 
der? Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? 
The glory of his nostrils is terrible. He paweth in the 
valley and rejoiceth in his strength. He goeth onto ~ 
meet the armed men. He mocketh at fear, and is not 
affrighted; neither turneth he back from the sword” 
(Job. 39:19-23). Here the horse is held up to admira- 
tion because of his strength, his utter fearlessness, and 
his refusal to be turned back by any menace of danger. 
Further God speaks of his irresistible determination 
and power to advance in the face of armed resistance: 
‘He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage; 
neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trum- 
pet’. He is at home in the most deadly conflict, and 
seems to delight in it: “For he saith among the 
trumpets, Ha, Ha; and he smelleth the battle afar off, 
the thunder of the captains, and the shouting” (vv. 
24, 25). 

The symbol of the horse and his rider is as old as 
Jacob’s prophecy, where these words occur: ‘“‘Dan 
shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, 
that biteth the horse’s heels, so that his rider shall fall 
backward” (Gen. 49:17). jAnd the same figure, in a 
like sense, occurs in the song of Moses and the children 
of Israel on the far side of the Red Sea, who said: “‘I 
will sing unto the LORD, for He hath triumphed 
gloriously: the horse and his rider hath He thrown 





The Opening of the Seals 185 


into the sea” (Ex. 15:1).: And that was the refrain of 
the song, as appears from the response of Miriam and 
the women (vy. 21). From this we get the idea that 
the horse represents the progress of some great enter- 
prise backed by strong military power. ‘Therefore, 
anything that is figured as being carried forward by a 
horse, is a movement that is sustained by mighty 
power; one that advances into conflict against the op- 
posing forces, but with fearlessness, and with prospects 
of a successful career. 

This will suffice to give us a somewhat definite idea 
of what is broadly signified in Scripture by the symbol 
of ahorse. But other passages may be examined with 
profit, as Isaiah 31:1 (note the words, ‘‘and trust in 
horsemen, because they are very strong’); Jeremiah 
4:13 (“his horses are swifter than eagles’) ; Jeremiah 
12:5 (“how canst thou contend with horses?’’) ; 
Hosea 14:3 (‘‘we will not ride upon horses’); and’ 
Psalm 33:17 (“neither shall he deliver any by his 
great strength’). 

But we come now to something even more specific 
and more pertinent to our inquiry. For in the 
prophecy of Zechariah are certain visions in which 
horses and their riders are conspicuous. Thus we 
read: “I saw by night, and behold, a man riding upon 
a red horse; . . . and beside him were red horses, 
speckled (or bay) and white” (Zech. 1:8). We need 
not for our present purpose seek for the interpretation 
of this vision. It is only important to note that these 





186 The Patmos Visions 


horses and riders represented agencies which the Lord 
sent forth upon a mission through the earth (v. 10). 

Turning now to Chapter VI of Zechariah’s proph- 
ecy, we read of a vision in which he saw four chariots, 
in the first of which were red horses, in the second 
black, in the third white, and in the fourth bay (vv. 
1-3). So here we have, as in Revelation VI, the earth- 
number four, signifying that the whole world is in- 
volved. And again we note the angel’s explanation 
of the symbol of the horses: ““These are the four spirits 
of the heavens, which go forth from standing before 
the Lord of all the earth’ (v. 5). ‘This explanation 
affords a solid basis for the view that the horses of 
Revelation VI picture the going forth into the world 
of certain mighty spiritual energies or agencies. The 
fact that all four are carried by horses points to a 
similarity in their general character; while the fact 
that the horses themselves differ in color shows that 
specifically they are not alike. What is said concerning 
their several riders points to other specific differences, 
as will be noted hereafter. 

In the case of the horses and their riders seen by 
Zechariah, the starting-point is similar to that in the 
vision of John, the prosperity and ease of the world, 
and the weakness, oppression and distress of the Israel 
of God. Hence the suitability at this precise moment 
of a vision revealing in a large and comprehensive way 
how God purposes to deal with the entire situation, and 
the agencies He will employ for the accomplishment of 
His ends. The showing at this point merely of some bit 


pS ae SRT RT SPS EE SLE EERE EET SL STE BE TIS TEMAS 


The Opening of the Seals 187 


or fragment of world history, as the historicists inter- 
pret the visions of the seals, would not meet the re- 
quirements of the case at all. 

Taking into consideration the significance of the 
horse as a Biblical symbol, and viewing the subject in 
the light of various other facts, I have come to the 
conclusion that the four horses and their riders present 
a prophetic picture of the mighty spiritual influences, 
agencies or powers, which were to arise and go forth 
into the whole world, at the beginning of the ‘‘Chris- 
tian Era’, and which were to impart to that great era 
those special characteristics whereby it is distinguished 
from all previous periods of the world’s history. 

That our era is clearly marked off from the eras that 
preceded it, that it has various characteristics which 
are all its own, and that its most distinctive features 
are due entirely to influences which came into operation 
at and immediately after the death and resurrection of 
Jesus Christ, are facts which the most prejudiced 
enemy of Christ would not deny. By common consent 
this age is known as the “Christian Era’’; its civiliza- 
tion is commonly termed “Christian Civilization”; and 
throughout the world its system of reckoning time has 
the (supposed) date of the birth of Jesus Christ for 
its starting-point. ‘Thus, in various ways, all men 
throughout the civilized world render involuntary 
recognition to Jesus Christ. They acknowledge, even 
though it be most repugnant to them to do so, that His 
doctrine has been the leading factor in shaping the 
course of human affairs throughout the age, and that 








188 The Patmos Visions 





His coming into the world was the beginning of an 
entirely new order of things among men. 

Upon surveying retrospectively the age in which we 
live, and noting the outstanding features thereof, we 
cannot fail to observe that the spiritual powers or 
agencies which have had the chief part in shaping the 
course of human affairs from the dawn of the era until 
now, have been four in number. Moreover, upon a 
careful examination of those powers or agencies we 
find that they correspond respectively, and in the pre- 
cise order in which they arose, to the symbolical repre- 
sentations of the four horses and their riders; the re- 
semblance being in every case so clear that it is readily 
seen when pointed out, and that no straining or manipu- 
lating of the meaning of the various symbols is required 
in order to give plausibility to the explanation. 

This correspondence between the broad character- 
istic marks of the christian era and the symbolical pic- 
tures shown under the first four seals is strong proof in 
itself of the correctness of the interpretation; for the 
agreement is too complete, and it extends to details too 
numerous, to be attributable to mere chance. 

If this reading of the symbols be correct, it follows 
that expositors of the historical school have missed the 
mark in attempting to find some definite historical 
event to fit each of the pictures shown at the opening of 
the several seals. All who have read attentively even 
the very best of the historicist expositions must have 
felt that the respective events cited as fulfilling the sev- 
eral visions bore but a faint, and generallya purely 





The Opening of the Seals 189 


imaginary resemblance to their supposed prototypes. 

Furthermore, the ordinary historicist interpretations, 
which refer us back to remote and obscure events of 
history (as the incidents of the reign of Trajan etc.) 
for the explanations of these visions, do not only be- 
little the visions themselves, but also rob them of all 
interest and value for generations subsequent to those 
early days. For those interpretations do not give us 
even the benefit of fulfilments of prophecy as evidences 
of the inspiration of Scripture; since the supposed ful- 
filments are too dubious in themselves to serve that use- 
ful purpose. — 

On the other hand, if the visions of these four seals 
show us the going forth of mighty potencies, which 
were to shape the course of affairs through the entire 
age, which were steadily and irresistibly to accomplish 
to the very end the mighty purposes of our God for this 
dispensation of grace, and especially if they were to 
reach the very height of their activities in the closing 
days of this wonderful era, then they are matters of 
peculiar interest and concern for us, who have so many 
evidences before our eyes that the end is near, even at 
the doors. 


THE WHITE Horse 


Turning now to the record, we should note with 
close attention and deepest interest what was the very 
first use made by the glorified Redeemer of the supreme 
authority placed in His pierced hands. 





190 The Patmos Visions 


“And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I 
heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four living 
creatures saying, Come and see. And I saw, and behold, a 
white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown 
was given him: and he went forth conquering and to conquer’ 
A sick Mee YA 

The identifying symbols are (1) the color of the 
horse, white; (2) the bow; (3) the crown; (4) the 
fact that the rider went forth conquering (gaining vic- 
tories from the start) and ultimately ‘to conquer” 
(7. e. to triumph finally over all enemies). These 
marks are amply sufficient for a certain identification 
(provided one’s mind is not shackled by the exigencies 
of the futurist or other system of interpretation), par- 
ticularly as there is but one event or epoch in the 
world’s history that fits accurately into the scene we 
are now viewing. ‘And that is, the going forth of the 
gospel of Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. 
Nothing else in the past, and nothing that has been 
revealed concerning the future, can be made to har- 
monize with this scene, or with these symbols. But the 
sending forth of the gospel of Christ, which is the 
power of God unto salvation, perfectly fits the scene, 
and perfectly explains the symbols, just as they are, 
without any manipulation whatever. 

The words by which this vision is described, few 
though they be, suffice to put before our minds the en- 
tire sweep of the gospel from its wondrous beginning 
to its triumphant end; and this fact serves, as nothing 
else could, to invest the subject of this vision with the 





The Opening of the Seals IQI 


highest possible interest for every generation of the 
Israel of God, with no abatement, but on the contrary 
with increasing consolation to the very end. And the in- 
disputable fact is, whatever explanation of the vision 
one may adopt, that of all the influences that have com- 
bined to shape the character of Western civilization, 
and to control the course of human affairs from the 
beginning of the age until now, the most potent by far 
has been, and yet is, THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST. In 
fact, the history of the leading nations of the world is 
practically the history of Christianity; whereas those 
nations which have been uninfluenced by the gospel are 
virtually without a history, and without any contribut- 
ing part in the development of civilization. Their condi- 
tion has been, at the best, one of age-long stagnation. 

Great as is the force of the indisputable fact I have 
just stated, that force is much augmented by the further 
fact, equally undeniable, that the other three influences, 
which have operated effectually in the affairs of men 
throughout this age, had their rise in the same histori- 
cal events that occasioned the going forth of the gospel. 
This will be shown shortly. It makes strongly for the 
unity of this group of visions. 

For Christianity is very far from being a failure, as 
some like to think it; nor has the energy with which it 
was launched into the tumultuous sea of the nations 
been dissipated; for it is energised by the Spirit of God. 
Nor is there any possibility of failure here; for the 
white horse rider went forth winning victories every- 
where at the beginning, and with the certainty also of a 


192 The Patmos Visions 


complete triumph at the end—‘conquering, and to 
conquer.” 

Once we accept the view, for which we believe full © 
proof has been given above, that Chapter V shows us 
the risen Redeemer ascending the throne and receiving 
the warrant of His absolute sovereignty over the whole 
universe, then it follows from the very purpose for 
which He offered Himself as a Sacrifice (namely, for 
“the sin of the world”) that the first exercise of His 
kingly authority would be the sending forth of the 
message of salvation into that world which He had 
died to save. 

And with this also agree perfectly His parting words 
and instructions to His disciples, by whom that mes- 
sage was to be carried into the world: ‘‘Thus’’, He 
told them, “‘it is written, and thus it behooved Christ 
to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day: And” 
—the very next thing be it noted—‘“‘that repentance 
and remission of sins should be preached in His name 
among all nations’. And, furthermore, for this world- 
wide mission they were shortly to be ‘“‘endued with 
POWER FROM ON HIGH” (Lu. 24:46-49). 

Much more to the same effect could be cited, but 
there is no need; for it is beyond controversy that the 
very next thing after the enthronement of Christ in 
_ heaven was the coming down of “power from on high”, 
in the Person of the Holy Spirit, and for the very pur- 
pose of energizing the mission of the gospel of Christ, 
which mission is not yet fully accomplished. There- 
fore, all we have to do for present purposes is to ob- 


The Opening of the Seals 193 


serve that the foregoing facts concerning the Kingdom 
of God agree perfectly with the vision of Revelation V, 
and with the first exercise by the enthroned Redeemer, 
as pictured in verses 1-3 of Chapter VI, of the sover- 
eign lordship of the universe which was then bestowed 
upon Him. 

The color of the horse, white, bears strong testi- 
mony to the same effect; for, as we have already 
pointed out, this color is in every instance throughout 
the Book (unless this be an exception) used to desig- 
nate things peculiarly divine; and there is not the 
slightest imaginable reason for assuming that we have 
an exception here, and an exception so great as (ac- 
cording to the futurist view) to reverse the meaning 
of the symbol. Moreover, the evidence in this case is 
raised from the level of high probability to that of 
virtual certainty by the fact that when Christ issues 
forth out of heaven to fulfill the words ‘‘and to con- 
quer’, He comes riding on a white horse: “‘And I saw 
heaven opened, and behold, a white horse; and He that 
sat upon him’’ etc. the words italicised being identically 
the same as those of 6:2 . It is not conceivable that 
this identity of language could have had any other 
purpose than to reveal the identity of subject. Could 
anything be plainer than that the end of Christ’s war 
and victory in Chapter 19:11 corresponds with its be- 
ginning here? Those who make the white horse rider 
a symbol of the antichrist of the last days, thereby 
reversing the meaning of the symbol which the Holy 
Spirit has here employed, realize of course, that the 





194. , The Patmos Visions 


color of the horse contradicts their interpretation. 
Hence they must needs resort to some expedient to 
meet the difficulty; and the expedient they have chosen 
is surely a curious one. ‘They say (though with no 
proof at all to support it) that antichrist appears on a 
white horse in imitation of Christ. But this, I submit 
with all respect for those who adopt this explanation, 
is not dealing either fairly or intelligently with the 
symbols. For these are not chosen by antichrist or by 
the Devil, but by the Holy Spirit; and they have in 
every case a divine fitness, ascertainable from the Bible 
itself, to express pictorially the thing they are intended 
to represent. If we are permitted to suppose that the 
deceiver has had a hand in choosing the symbols, we 
are all at sea. But such a supposition cannot be enter- 
tained for a moment. The Apocalypse is written 
mainly in the sign language, and that sign language is 
just as much inspired as all the rest of the Bible. Verse 
1 of Chapter 1 declares concerning this ‘‘Revelation 
of Jesus Christ” that “He sent and sign-i-fied it (i e. 
communicated it by signs) to His servant John’’. 

In the one case where a satanic disguise is predicted, 
the fact that it is a disguise is made to appear plainly. 
I refer to the description of the second “‘beast’’, of 
whom it is said, “‘And he had two horns like a lamb” 
(13:11). Here is an attempt to assume an external 
resemblance (homoia=like to) a lamb. The symbol 
of antichrist is a ‘‘wild beast”. It is not conceivable 
that the Holy Spirit could represent him by the symbol 





The Opening of the Seals . 195 


of a lamb, nor that He could represent him as riding 
upon a white horse. 


THE Bow 


He that sat on the white horse had a bow. 

The bow is a familiar weapon of war, its peculiarity 
being that it can strike at a distance. It is used 
figuratively for power to make war, whether in a ma- 
terial or a spiritual sense. “Thus Jacob prophesies 
concerning Joseph, saying, ‘But his bow abode in 
strength” (Gen. 49:24). The bow is employed figura- 
tively as a weapon used by God. Job speaks of “the 
arrows of the Almighty” (Job. 6:4; see also Dt. 
scam to cam: Qies- Pet lest4s 45437721 7etcn). 
Then we read of “the arrow of the Lord’s deliver- 
ance” (2 K.13:17). This is sufficient to show that the 
bow is a symbol of that which discharges the messages 
of God towards the mark they are intended to reach. 
In other words, it symbolizes the preaching of the 
gospel in general, and the individual gospel preacher 
in particular. 

But again in respect to the symbol of the bow, as in 
the case of the white horse, we have something more 
definite than general principles to guide us to the right 
conclusion. For in Habakkuk’s prophecy is a highly 
figurative passage in which the prophet sees a vision, 
and in describing it he speaks of the Lord as riding 
upon horses and chariots of salvation. In that connec- 
tion he says: ‘‘Thy bow was made quite naked, accord- 
ing to the oaths of the tribes, even Thy Word... . 





196 The Patmos Visions 


The sun and moon stood still in their habitation: at 
the light of Thine arrows they went, and at the shining 
of Thy glittering spear. . . . Thou wentest forth for 
the salvation of Thy people, even for salvation with 
Thine anointed. Thou woundedst the head out of the 
house ,of) the avicked*)-ete4) Chlaba SaSeisem cry aise 
110:6). From this Scripture we have ample warrant 
for regarding the bow as a symbol of God’s Word in 
the day when He goes forth into all the world for the 
“salvation’’ of men.* 

Another passage that sheds clear light upon the 
symbol of the bow is Psalm 45, which in Hebrews 1:8 
is quoted as applying to Christ. The following is the 
pertinent portion: ‘‘Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, 
O most Mighty, with Thy glory, and Thy majesty. 
And in Thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth, 
and meekness, and righteousness; and Thy right hand 
shall teach Thee terrible things. Thine arrows are 
sharp in the heart of the King’s enemies” (vv. 3-5). 
In this case the mention of the arrows implies that 
the royal Warrior had a bow, as in the other Scripture 
the mention of the bow implies the arrows. Moreover, 
in the Septuagint version, which was that in use in 
Palestine in those days, and from which our Lord and 





* In certain expositions which make the white horse rider to be the antichrist 
of the last days, an attempt is made to build upon the circumstance that, in the 
brief description given of this rider, there is no mention of arrows. We are 
asked to assume, first, that this warricr went forth without any arrows for his 
bow; and second, that the lack of arrows somehow supports the view that he 
represents antichrist. But we see no warrant for either assumption. That a 
warrior carrying a bow should have no arrows, particularly if he is to have a 
conquering career, is surely a strange idea. And in a brief description of such 
a warrior it would be no more necessary to say that he had arrows for his bow, 
than in describing a man with a gun it would be necessary to state that he had 


Se ANE for it. That could safely be ieft to the intelligence of the ordinary 





The Opening of the Seals 197 


His apostles quoted, verse 4 of the Psalm reads thus: 
‘“And in Thy majesty ride, and bend Thy bow, and 
prosper and reign, because of truth’, etc. This read- 
ing, of course, is not authoritative; for the Hebrew 
text does not have the words “and bend Thy bow’’. 
But the reading of the Septuagint is nevertheless com- 
petent evidence to prove how the words of the vision 
of the white horse and his rider would be understood 
by believers of apostolic times. 

Thus the Scriptures do (figuratively speaking) put a 
bow and arrows into the hands of Christ and send Him 
forth on a white horse, in the “day of salvation’. 
Whereas the Scriptures say not a word of any anti- 
christ’s going forth on a white horse (or any other), or 
of his carrying a bow. And inasmuch as we can inter- 
pret Scripture only by Scripture, we have in this case no 
choice but either to be guided by Scripture, and take 
this passage as referring to Christ in the gospel, or 
else to abandon Scripture entirely, in which case we 
are free to assign it to any character we please, 
whether real or imaginary. 


THE CROWN 


It is needless to speak at any length as to the mean- 
ing of the clause, “And a crown was given him’’. 
Those words agree with the view that in this vision we 
have Christ, going forth in the gospel. ‘‘His goings 
forth are from of old, from everlasting”; and this one 
is distinguished from that which led Him to the cross 
by the fact that now He has a crown. 





198 The Patmos Visions 


CONQUERING AND TO CONQUER 


If the preceding descriptive items were so dubious 
as to leave us in uncertainty concerning the identity of 
the rider of the white horse, the last words of the 
passage, ““And he went forth conquering, and to con- 
quer’, would surely make the matter perfectly plain. 
For it needs only a brief reflection thereupon in the 
light of Scripture to make evident that those words 
could not refer to any other than Christ, and that they 
apply to Him only as embracing His entire career of 
conquest, from beginning to end. We are aware that 
it is said of the ten-horned beast that ‘‘it was given him 
to make war with the saints, and to overcome (same 
word as here rendered conquer) them” (13:7). But it 
is not said, nor could it be, that the beast went forth 
conquering and to conquer. For those last three words 
speak in the clearest way of final victory; and the 
beast’s career does not end in victory, but in utter and 
eternal defeat (19:20). 

On the other hand, the entire clause is most wonder- 
fully and comprehensively descriptive of the career of 
Christ in the gospel. “He went forth conquering’. 
These words bring up before our minds the early tri- 
umphs of the gospel, from the day it was first preached 
‘‘with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven”’, to the 
end of the Book of Acts; and all the way from Jeru- 
salem to Rome. Then the last three words, “and to 
conquer’, carry our thoughts onward to “the end”, 
referred to by the apostle Paul in that great passage 





The Opening of the Seals 199 


in which he unfolds the gospel of the Kingdom of 
Christ, where he says: “Then cometh the end; ... 
when He shall have put down all rule and all authority 
and power. For He must reign, till He hath put all 
enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be 
destroyed is death” (1 Cor. 15:24, 25). It is to this 
last victory over death and the grave that the words 
‘and to conquer’’ specially refer; for Chapter 20:14 
of Revelation records this final triumph, saying, “‘And 
death and hell (Gr. hades) were cast into the lake of 
fire’. ‘And, referring to the same event, the apostle 
Paul in the passage just quoted, says: ““Then shall be 
brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is 
swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? 
O grave (Gr. hades), where is thy victory?” (1 Cor. 
155455515.) : 

Therefore we find in the words, ‘“‘conquering, and to 
conquer’, strong, indeed conclusive proof, that the pas- 
sage refers to Christ, not to any antichrist; and further 
that it particularly symbolizes the going forth of the 
gospel of Christ into the world, and the career thereof 
from beginning to end. 


THE Rep Horse 
“And when He had opened the second seal, I heard the 


second living creature say, Come and see. And there went out 
another horse that was red: and (power) was given to him that 
sat thereon to take peace fromthe earth, and that they should 
kill one another, and there was given him a great sword”. 


These words describe the symbols of another mighty 
spiritual agency or power that has exerted a potent in- 





200 The Patmos Visions 


fluence in shaping the developments of this gospel dis- 
pensation. The color of the horse (red), the words 
“to take peace from the earth” and “kill one another”, — 
and the symbol of ‘‘a great sword”’, testify quite plainly 
as to the significance of this feature of the vision. 
There is general agreement, therefore, that we have 
here a symbolical prophecy of war. But it would be, in 
my opinion, a great mistake to regard this symbol as 
meaning only, or even primarily, physical wars; for I 
am convinced that it signifies something much broader 
than that, namely strife or variance of every sort; and 
moreover I believe that what is here pictured is some- 
thing spiritual rather than material. Our light as to 
this comes mainly from the words of our Lord re- 
corded in Matthew 10:34. The occasion was the first 
sending forth of the twelve apostles to proclaim that 
the Kingdom of God was at hand; and in that connec- 
tion occur the significant words, ‘“These twelve Jesus 
sent forth” (v. 5). ‘Their “peace” was to come upon 
every house they entered that was worthy; but if it 
were not worthy, their peace was to return to them 
(v.13). ‘Then He warned them to “beware of men”, 
foretelling that they should be delivered up to councils, 
they would be scourged, and brought before kings and 
governors; and further that brother should deliver up 
brother to death, and the father the child; and children 
should rise up against their parents and cause them to 
be put to death (vv. 17-21). So here we have the 
Lord’s own word, spoken at the first going forth of 
the gospel, that the immediate effect would be antag- 


5 a a aS SS EES UT TIFT REDE EAT REE I TANT EAE SORA TST 


The Opening of the Seals 201 


onism, variance, and deadly strife. We see therefore 
that the red horse was to follow hard upon the heels 
of the white horse. And now, to put the whole matter 
into a single vivid sentence, the Lord draws a word 
picture which strikingly agrees with this detail of the 
picture of the rider on the red horse, saying, ‘“Think 
not that I am come to send peace on the earth; I came 
not to send peace, but a sword” (v. 34). When we 
compare these words with those of the vision, ‘power 
was given him to take peace from the earth,... 
and there was given him a great sword’’, we are con- 
strained to the conclusion that this striking similarity 
of language is designed to show us that the prophecy 
and the vision refer to the same thing. But more than 
that, our Lord’s next words give the explanation of the 
figurative expression “a sword’’, those words being: 
‘For I am come to set a man at variance against his 
father, and the daughter against her mother, and the 
daughter in law against her mother in law. And a 
man’s foes shall be they of his own household’’ (Mat. 
105355536). 

The words of our Lord recorded in Luke 12 :49-53 
throw additional light on the matter. Speaking 
prophetically and in highly figurative language (vv. 
35 ff.) of the period of His absence, He used these 
words: “I am come to send fire on the earth; and what 
will I if it be already kindled’. Now it is clear from 
what follows that the word “fire” in this saying is 
descriptive of the same thing as the word ‘“‘sword”’ in 


Matthew 10:34 (and we recall that ‘fire’ and 





202 The Patmos Visions 


“sword” when used figuratively are commonly joined 
together). For He goes on to say: ‘‘Suppose ye that 
I am come to give peace on the earth? I tell you, Nay; 
but rather division. For from henceforth’ (He had 
just referred to His approaching “baptism”’ of suffer- 
ings) “there shall be five in one house divided, three 
against two, and two against three. ‘The father shall 
be divided against the son, and the son against the 
father; the mother against the daughter and the 
daughter against the mother; the mother in law against 
her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against 
her mother in law’. : 

The words of Christ recorded in Matthew 10:35, 
36, cited above, are a quotation from Micah, where it 
is written: ‘“‘For the son dishonoureth the father, the 
daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in 
law against her mother in law; a man’s enemies are the 
men of his own house’’. And it will be remembered that 
the birth of Christ at Bethlehem is foretold a little 
earlier in this same prophecy (Mic. 5:2), and His sac- 
rificial death is implied in Chapter 6:6, 7. It is highly 
interesting and instructive to trace out the connection 
between the going forth of the gospel and the various 
forms of strife, including wars, that are sure to follow. 
Frequently it happens on this wise: The bearers of the 
gospel message penetrate into regions far beyond the 
pale of civilization. They encounter opposition from 
the natives, and often pay for their admission by their 
lives. But animosity and suspicion are overcome by 
kindness and gentleness; a hearing is obtained; the 


| SOE A TTP SOT RESPITE SRE STEY SY DEE STE TESST EAE SATE SES HETTE 
The Opening of the Seals 203 


gospel begins to do its work; and the community is 
slowly raised out of the depths of paganism. More- 
over, their confidence in the white man has been gained, 
so that presently, when the trader arrives on the scene, 
with an eye to business, he finds a favorable situation 
whereof he proceeds to take full advantage. ‘The 
usual developments follow quickly. ‘The natives are 
shamelessly exploited; and if, as in the case of China, 
the country be rich in natural resources, one nation 
after another presses into the opening the missionary 
has made; competition and rivalry follow; the natives 
begin to find to their sorrow that men from “Christian 
countries’ are not Christian at all; resentment and 
hatred of foreigners arise; agitators seize the oppor- 
tunity to fan the embers of hatred into a blaze; up- 
risings and other disturbances occur; and presently the 
whole country is seething, as is China at this hour. 
Thus the red horse gallops hard after the white horse; 
and when affairs come to a climax, someone who has 
the ear of the public will very likely rise up and 
gravely lay all the evils brought about by a greedy and 
unscrupulous commercialism at the door of the mis- 
sionary. 

Another instance of the way the outbreak of com- 
mercial strife and then actual wars follow the gospel 
of Christ has just been brought to my notice by a 
thoughtful article from the pen of an economist (‘“The 
Economic Cause of War’’, by Edward Beach Howell, 
in Atlantic Monthly for July, 1925) who shows that 
wars have occurred in cycles, and that the eras of great 


pera t scp STRE ESEISUSR  8 ESREDIR E,T PTEMDUNPRET TRE ET SEEE  ASOSETUETAET 


204. The Patmos Visions 


wars have been coincident with those of unusually large 
increments of gold, the money metal of the world. It 
works in this way (to take the latest and most impres- 
sive instance, the era of the wars between Japan and 
China, Spain and America, England and the Boers, 
Japan and Russia, Italy and Turkey, the Balkan States 
and ‘Turkey, culminating in the ‘‘World War’’) : A new 
country is opened, as the Rand in South Africa. Gold 
is discovered. There is the usual rush to that region. 
Presently there are large additions to the money metal 
of the world. Prices rise. Trade is stimulated. Com- 
mercial rivalry is intensified; “‘and the commercial 
phrenzy thereby produced is followed by the phrenzy 
of war’. It is not necessary that we should try to 
trace out the connection between great increments of 
the money metal of the world, and the breaking out 
of wars. But certainly it is a most significant and 
thought provoking fact that large additions to the 
world’s stores of gold, to which most men look as the 
source of happiness and prosperity, should in some 
mysterious way tend invariably to bring upon the 
human race that greatest of all afflictions, the scourge 
of war. We shall see more of this in studying the 
vision of the black horse. 

Such then were the various kinds of ‘‘wars and fight- 
ings’ that were to follow the message of the gospel 
everywhere; and such in truth have followed it from 
the days of the apostles until now. The gospel has 
divided families into hostile camps, sundering the very 
closest ties of nature. Then, its effects widening, it 


| SSS Sh SOE EY ERE NNT REA DT RAY “REALTOR PO EOE OS STEAL ST 
The Opening of the Seals 205 


has separated communities into antagonistic parties; 
and then nations; and finally it has set nation against 
nation. Sometimes the warfare has been confined to 
words, feelings and attitudes. But often it has taken 
the form of physical violence—persecutions, imprison- 
ments, tortures, and where there was resistance (as be- 
tween Protestants and Catholics in France and else- 
where) civil wars. The ‘Thirty Years War” ending 
in 1648, was due entirely to religious antagonism. In- 
deed the countless wars, fightings, persecutions and 
martyrdoms, arising out of the political policies of 
Papal Rome, would never have occurred but for the 
gospel. In order however to realize fully the impor- 
tant part which the red horse rider has played in 
shaping the history of Christendom, we should have 
to take into consideration every instance of strife, 
variance, hatred, antagonism, and dissension of what- 
ever sort, that has arisen during all these nineteen cen- 
turies, because of the preaching of the gospel and of 
its acceptance by some in a family, a community, or a 
nation. It is quite safe to say that all other causes of 
dispute put together have not contributed nearly so 
much to hostility between human beings as the single 
cause of religious difference regarding the gospel. How 
profoundly true then were those few words of Christ: 
‘I came not to send peace, but a sword”! And what 
marvellous foresight is manifested in them! 

I claim then, that the explanation of the meaning of 
the red horse has been given us by our Lord Himself. 
And most fitting it is that this explanation should come 


aE SL CTE ESSENSE SSE RSPEI REEF PICASA EY TRESS SEP FSET UTED SEP ET WE SIE TS 


206 The Patmos Visions 


from His own lips. For here we have what is probably 
the greatest of the “mysteries” of His Kingdom; and 
those none other could declare with the same authority. 
For what could have been more in accord with the 
natural anticipations of even spiritually minded men 
than that the setting up of Christ’s Kingdom would 
mean the immediate realization of the angelic anthem, 
“On earth peace, good will toward men’? How 
needful then that His people should have it clearly 
from His own lips that it was to be just the reverse— 
‘not peace but a sword’’! 

In the Book of Acts we are given to see clearly the 
beginning of the career of the red horse rider. Strife 
began where the gospel began, in Jerusalem, where ‘‘a 
great persecution’ arose about Stephen; and thence it 
went forth, following always the course of the gospel. 
At Antioch in Pisidia, the Jews raised persecution 
against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them out of 
their coasts. At Iconium the Jews stirred up the Gen- 
tiles against them, so that Paul was stoned and drawn 
out of the city as dead. At the first appearance of the 
gospel in Europe, at Philippi, antagonism and persecu- 
tion were immediately manifested. Next at Thes- 
salonica, all the city was set on anuproar. At Corinth 
and at Ephesus, it was the same story; and so on to 
the end. ‘The gospel was making its way against the 
united opposition of Judaism, Paganism, Greek philoso- 
phy, and Roman cynicism (which afterwards changed 
to fierce persecution), and everywhere causing strife. 
All the way it has been a struggle up stream against 





The Opening of the Seals 207 


the rush of all the surging currents of human tenden- 
cies. 

It should be observed that there is nothing in the 
symbols of the second seal that speaks of actual physi- 
cal war. ‘That is seen under the fourth seal, where we 
find the words ‘‘to kill with the sword’’. Here the 
words “‘to take peace from the earth” do not imply 
war in the ordinary sense. The word ‘‘peace”’ in its 
Bible significance means welfare, prosperity, tran- 
quility. All the world was at that time embraced in 
the peaceful state known as the pax Romana, a state of 
political tranquility maintained by the iron hand of 
Imperial Rome. That condition was not to last. The 
shaking of all things was to begin forthwith. And so it 
did; and it continues even until now. The present day 
controversy between ‘‘Fundamentalists’’ and ‘‘Mod- 
ernists’’, for example, is but one of the ten thousand 
phases of the “‘variance’’, which was to attend, accord- 
ing to the Lord’s own prediction, the going forth of 
His gospel. 

Historians describe a remarkable era, in the time of 
the Roman domination of the world, which they call 
“The two centuries of peace’. That era began with 
the reign of Augustus Caesar (B. C. 30—A. D. 14) 
who was at the very height of his wonderful career 
when Christ was born (Luke 2:1). The reign of 
Augustus is regarded by secular historians as ‘“‘the be- 
ginning of a new age’. Little did the wisest man of 
those days suspect to what extent, and in what manner, 
that “new age’’ was to be shaped by the influence of 


see gS SY I RE YE EET ETE TEER ST SSE TS NSS AEE SET 
208 The Patmos Visions 


the Babe of Bethlehem and Man of Galilee. The pax 
Romana was thoroughly established over the whole 
world in the days of Tiberius Caesar, the successor of 
Augustus, who ruled the world at the time of our Lord’s 
ministry, and it continued through the reigns of Cali- 
gula, Claudius, Nero, Vespasian, Titus, Trajan and 
Hadrian, to that of Marcus Aurelius. Hence it em- 
braced the period of the visions given to John on Pat- 
mos, except for one outbreak in the days of Domitian, 
which was probably the occasion of John’s exile. With 
this fact in mind, we see peculiar significance in the 
words spoken concerning the red horse rider, that it 
was “‘given him to take peace from the earth’. That 
was done effectually and permanently, insomuch that 
strife, wars and fightings have not ceased till now, nor 
will to the end. Manifestly, those words would not 
apply to the last days of our era, for there will then 
be no “‘peace’’ to be taken away from the earth. 

It is a remarkable fact indeed that the gospel of 
Christ was not to bring peace into the parts of the 
earth to which it was about to come, but on the con- 
trary, conflict. A strange prediction truly; one that it 
would never have occurred to a mere man to make. 
But how marvelously it has been fulfilled! For 
throughout these nineteen centuries the gospel has been 
the cause of strife wherever it has gone. It has 
aroused antagonism, hatred and discord everywhere. 
In other words, the white horse rider with his bow has 
been closely followed, even to the ends of the earth, by 
the red horse rider with the “‘great sword”. 


The Opening of the Seals 209 


It would have been indeed most natural for those 
who knew the purpose and the power of the gospel of 
Christ to expect that all men everywhere would be not 
only ready, but even eager, to accept the grace and sal- 
vation it offers freely to all; that they would gladly 
receive the forgiveness of their sins and the free gift 
of eternal life; and would welcome the gracious call of 
God to be at peace with Him, and to enter into the 
blessings that are to be enjoyed in His Kingdom. But 
it was to be far otherwise. For the proclamation of 
the love of God was to have the effect of intensifying 
and evoking outbursts of the hatred that is in the heart 
of man. Yes, the Kingdom of God must battle up- 
stream all the way. It must advance against all the 
opposing currents of human desires, plans, ambitions, 
opinions, philosophies. Every influence and energy 
under which men act, every cherished notion and con- 
vention of human society, every characteristic impulse 
of the human heart—pride, envy, covetousness, self- 
love in all its forms—would be united in opposition to 
it. Therefore, the Lord’s foresight, and His love and 
care for His people, were wonderfully manifested by 
the fact that, in parable, in symbol, and in plain speech, 
He made known that His Kingdom, instead of finding 
ready acceptance, and being at once established 
throughout the world, was to encounter the most 
determined and violent resistance from all the powers 
of earth and hell; that it was to be war from start to 
finish; that His followers must be prepared to endure 
hardness as good soldiers; that they must take to them- 





210 The Patmos Vistons 


selves all the armour of God; that they would need a 
sword more than a cloak; that there was to be ‘“‘no dis- 
charge in that war’’, since they must fight to the very 
end the good fight of faith. But in revealing all this 
beforehand, our Lord has incidentally furnished con- 
vincing proof both of the truth of His words and also 
of His perfect knowledge of all that was to come, and 
hence of His own Deity. 

That the spiritual warfare He foretold would last 
for twenty centuries was not and could not have been 
for a moment supposed by the first disciples. But 
from our place in the course of time, we can see, in the 
light of these visions of the Apocalypse, that so it was 
to be. Hence we need that light just now, and should 
earnestly seek it. ‘“The mystery of iniquity” is a deep, 
dark mystery indeed. That after nineteen centuries 
the powers of evil should still be dominant in the world 
which Christ bought back at the cost of His own blood, 
is profoundly mysterious; and therefore all the light 
upon it that can be had should be diligently sought. In 
that quest we are now engaged; and we believe it will 
not be in vain. We know that “the mystery of God 
will be finished’’, and that the time thereof is fixed. 
For the wondrously glorious “Angel” of Chapter X 
has declared, and with a great oath, by Him who 
liveth for ever and ever, who created all things, that, 
from that time, there should be delay no longer, but 
that “in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, 
when he should begin to sound, the mystery of God 





The Opening of the Seals 211 


should be finished, as He hath declared to His servants 
the prophets” (Rev. 10:5-7). 

It should be most carefully noted and kept in mind 
that while the influences or potencies represented by the 
three horses which follow after the white horse, are in 
their nature evil and hostile to the gospel, they never- 
theless are appointed to further the purposes of God in 
this gospel-dispensation. We may not be able to trace 
out the ultimate effects of these hostile influences, which 
are directly under the control of the adversary. Yet the 
statements of Scripture are abundant and clear to the 
effect that all the rage, malignancy and opposition of 
the great enemy, all the forces he directs against the 
work of the gospel, all the sufferings and afflictions he 
brings upon the servants of Christ, will be turned ulti- 
mately to his own undoing, and to the accomplishment 
of the purposes of God. To cite but one instance of 
many, we recall that the opposition which the adver- 
sary raised up everywhere against the apostle Paul, 
and which seemed to be crowned with success in that it 
compassed his removal from the field of labor and his 
imprisonment in Rome, had just the opposite effect 
from that which Satan intended. For Paul, enlight- 
ened by the Spirit of God, was enabled to write from 
his prison, and say, “I would ye should understand, 
brethren, that the things which happened unto me have 
fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel” 
(Phil. 1:12). And so it will be with all these bitterly 
hostile influences. Hence, while recognizing their evil 
character, we may nevertheless, to the comfort of our 








212 The Patmos Visions 


hearts, view them as agencies which our God is using, 
according to His settled plan and perfect wisdom, for 
the accomplishment of His great designs for this age. 


Tue Biack Horse 


“And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third 
living creature say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo, a 
black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in 
his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living 
creatures say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three 
measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil 
and the winé’. 


In the commentaries I have read on this vision the 
authors plainly show that they are but groping blindly 
after the meaning of the symbols. It is commonly 
assumed that this vision represents famine; and the 
prices quoted for the wheat and the barley are sup- 
posed to afford support to that idea, for it is said that 
these are “famine prices”. But this is not satisfactory. 
I know of nothing in Scripture to indicate that a man, 
going forth with a pair of balances and crying the sale 
of wheat and barley at any prices, is a symbol of fam- 
ine. Neither has any proof been given that the prices 
quoted in the text are ‘‘famine prices’. Nor is it easy 
to see what the command not to hurt the oil and the 
wine has to do with famine. That command does not 
fit into the picture of famine at all (see the Bible sym- 
bols of famine in Genesis 41:1-7). The true explana- 
tion will give full effect to the Biblical significance of 
the color of the horse (black), the balances, and the 





The Opening of the Seals 213 


things mentioned by the voice from the midst of the 
cherubim, that is, wheat, barley, oil, and wine. 

Furthermore it should be noted that to the rider on 
the pale horse (fourth seal) power is given to kill 
“with hunger’. This is quite enough in itself to show 
that the black horse rider symbolizes something more 
and other than famine; for that view makes it the 
mere duplication of one feature of the next scene. 

In seeking the explanation of this vision we must 
first of all look for some potent influence going forth 
into the world about the same time as the gospel, and 
following its course, an influence destined to pervade 
the world, and to exert power in shaping the manner 
and the course of “‘Christian”’ civilization down to the 
end of the age. Then, in the second place, the influence 
or spiritual agency for which we seek must answer, 
and without forcing a resemblance or manipulating the 
facts to produce one, to the symbolic description of the 
black horse and his rider, to the balances, and to the 
words of the voice. 

That we have here something directly in contrast 
with the gospel itself, is clear; for black is just the 
opposite of white. Furthermore, the gospel freely 
gives the bread of life, while here is something that 
sells the prime necessities,, both for rich and poor, at 
fixed prices. The gospel brings blessing for all; but 
here is something that would “hurt” the oil and the 
wine, if not restrained by divine command. 

Keeping all these things in mind, and in view of 
other matters to be noticed below, I conclude that the 


¢ 





214 The Patmos Visions 


black horse and his rider represent the world of Busi- 
ness (Industrialism or Commercialism), which has 
been a mighty factor in shaping the history of the 
christian era, and in determining the character of 
‘‘christian’’ civilization. We would ask special atten- 
tion to the facts and reasons we shall now adduce in 
support of this conclusion. 

Commercialism had its rise with the apostate Jews, 
who, after the devastation of their land, city, and tem- 
ple, were dispersed among all the nations of the earth, 
to be a race of traders, to perfect a marvellous, in- 
visible, yet closely knit system of international finance 
and commerce, a system which just now is attaining the 
full development of its power; which holds tight within 
its unseen meshes, strong as steel, the destinies of na- 
tions, communities and individuals; which fixes the 
prices of all commodities: which molds public opinion 
through the press, commanding its service by the power 
of advertising; which sets and changes the fashions and 
styles of dress at its pleasure; which controls public 
amusements; and which dictates the policies of govern- 
ments. 

For it is matter of indisputable historic fact that at 
the beginning of our era two mighty agencies ‘went 
forth” out of Jewry, each with a world-wide and age- 
long mission to accomplish. These were identified 
respectively with the two parts into which the people 
of Israel were divided by the coming of their Messiah. 
For truly “there was a division among the people be- 
cause of Him” (John 7:43). They that believed on 








The Opening of the Seals iON Us 


Him were the true seed of Abraham; and they there- 
fore ‘‘went forth’ to be a blessing to all nations, 
carrying with them and spreading everywhere the free 
grace and unspeakable benefits of the gospel. On the 
other hand they that rejected Him ‘went forth” to be 
a ‘‘curse’’ to all nations, and bring them into servitude 
to the god of gold, “the Mammon of unrighteousness’. 
By them were invented all the instruments and mechan- 
ism of international trade, such as bills-of-exchange, as 
well as ‘‘interest”’, discounts, bills of lading, invoices, 
etc. So marvellous is this system, so smooth in opera- 
tion, and above all so invisible, that the great majority 
of people are utterly unaware of its existence; though 
close observers of latter-day world conditions have 
pointed out again and again, that an all-powerful 
though invisible world-empire has come into existence, 
an empire of “Finance”, whose capital, until recently 
in London, was transferred at the time of the great 
war to New York City. ‘Thus, quoting from a recent 
issue of the New York Evening Post: 

“Dominant at London is a new Power, virtually independent 
of politics, and owing only the most shadowy allegiance to any 
Government; it is American Finance. . . . Formerly finance 
did not lead; it followed. It exerted powerful influence; but 
it was always kept within fixed political bounds. ‘The ‘money 
barons’ of no nation ever before had an opportunity to exert 
themselves in so nearly an independent manner as American 
Finance has assumed in the European situation today”’. 

THE BALANCES OF DECEIT 

‘All this is in fulfilment of the voice of prophecy, 

which speaks very distinctly to the point, and speaks 





216 The Patmos Visions 


moreover so fully that we must needs limit our citations 
to a few of the many pertinent passages. We quote 
first from Hosea: 


“Israel is swallowed up: now shall they be among the Gen- 
tiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure”. “My God will cast 
them away, because they did not hearken unto Him: and they 
shall be wanderers among the nations”. “He (Jacob) is a 
merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth to 
oppress” (marg. deceive) (Hosea 8:8; 9:17; 12:7). 


Here we have a clear prophecy of the career of apos- 
tate Israel during the gospel dispensation. As a na- 
tion it was to be “‘swallowed up”’ among the Gentiles. 
As individuals they were to be ‘“‘wanderers among the 
nations’. And for occupation, though originally an 
agricultural and pastoral people, they would not labor 
in the fields, nor yet in the factories, but would addict 
themselves to merchandising; and their methods would 
be deceitful. 

The passage last quoted above matches perfectly 
the symbol of the black horse rider, so perfectly that 
we cannot doubt the former is given us to explain the 
latter, particularly in view of the fact that in the Word 
of God no coincidences can be undesigned. The color 
black symbolizes that which is hidden (deceit), as 
white fitly represents that which is truthful and open; 
and the balances are plainly declared to be the repre- 
sentation of merchandising, to which Israel was to 
addict itself. 

Here then is something great enough in its influence 
upon all mankind to be compared with the gospel it- 





The Opening of the Seals 217 


self, though of opposite character; a thing that has 
followed the course of the gospel everywhere, even as 
the black horse is shown following the white horse; a 
thing that has powerfully affected the character of 
Christian civilization. Thus the history of nineteen 
centuries fully confirms our conclusion, and shows the 
fulfilment both of the prophecy of Hosea and of the 
vision of John. And the end is not yet, though there 
are increasing indications that it is near. 

I feel justified therefore in concluding that even as 
the white horse rider symbolizes the true Israel going 
forth with the gospel of truth, so the black horse rider 
symbolizes apostate Israel going forth with ‘‘the bal- 
ances of deceit’’. 


THE EPHAH 


Strong confirmation of this view of the black horse 
rider is found in the visions of Zechariah. In Chapter 
IV this prophet of the captivity describes his vision of 
the golden candlestick, whose seven lamps were fed 
with golden oil through golden pipes, this being a figure 
of God’s testimony on earth through His churches. I 
cite this merely as showing the close resemblance, in 
this part of Zechariah, to the Patmos visions of John; 
for it is to the latter part of the same vision of Zech- 
ariah (Chapter V) that I wish to direct attention. 
Turning from the contemplation of the golden candle- 
stick, Zechariah saw a flying roll, or scroll, which the 
angel that talked with him said was “the curse that 
goeth forth over the face of the whole earth’. This 


1: ean pn SSP gE I Se EE TE ge ures ee ET 
218 The Patmos Visions 


further tends to show that out of Judea was to come 
not only ‘‘the blessing of Abraham”’ through those who 
were of “‘the faith of Abraham’’, but also “‘the curse” 
through those who rejected the faith, and refused to 
submit themselves to the righteousness of God (Rom. 
10:3). 

Then Zechariah was bidden to lift up his eyes, and 
upon so doing he saw an ephah going forth, concerning 
which the angel said, “This is their resemblance 
through all the earth” (5:6). Here is clear light 
upon our subject. For the ephah, or corn meas- 
ure, has virtually the same significance as the balances; 
and the words “‘this is their resemblance through all 
the earth”, prophesy the very same thing concerning 
Israel as the words of Hosea, ‘‘He is a merchant’’. 

Furthermore the angel said to Zechariah, ‘This is 
a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah”’, and 
further he said, ‘“This is wickedness”. Then there 
came out two women having the wings of a stork, and 
the wind filled their wings, and they carried forth the 
ephah. Thereupon Zechariah inquired, “whither do 
these bear the ephah?”’ to which the angel replied, ‘“To 
build it an house in the land of Shinar (i. e. Babylon), 
and it shall be established, and set there upon her own 
base” (vv. 7-11). 

The correspondence between this vision and that of 
the black horse is remarkable, and all the more so be- 
cause of the specific differences in detail—in one case 
a woman, in the other a man; in the one an ephah, in 
the other a pair of balances; in the one case the going 





The Opening of the Seals 219 


forth being by means of wings, in the other by means of 
ahorse. There is, of course, instruction to be had by 
noting these specific differences; but our concern at 
present is with the broad meaning of the vision. So we 
call attention to one more feature only, namely the 
destination of the ephah, the land of Shinar, where a 
house was to be built for it, and where it was to be 
established upon its own base. 

Shinar is, of course, the mystical city Babylon of 
Revelation XVIII, “that great city”, in which the ulti- 
mate development of Commercialism is seen, and which 
is to be so terribly overthrown. There is where the 
ephah is enshrined, so to speak; that is to say, where 
the temple of Mammon is built by its devotees. Now 
the proper business of the true Israelite is, and always 
has been from the Exodus onward (Ex. 15:2), to build 
a habitation for Jehovah. Paul is an example of the 
true Israelite; for the building of the House of God, 
that which was to be builded “for an habitation of 
God through the Spirit” (Eph. 2:20-22), was ever his 
chief concern, as his writings testify. So he said con- 
cerning his own labors, ‘‘As a wise master-builder I 
have laid the foundation, and another buildeth there- 
on”; and he adds, as regards the foundation or sup- 
porting “base” of this vast spiritual temple. ‘‘For 
other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, 
which is JESUS CHRIST” (1 Cor. 3:10, 11). 

David also, in his day, was a true Israelite; for he 


longed to build the house of God (2 Sam. 7:2), he 


0 a PES OSE PEELE TAS REYNE ET UGS AE EE GER STSEEE SEEADT SEETERTOTPPOER TI EEO TINT PEST STON BETIS ES EE 
220 The Patmos Visions 


set his affection to it, and he prepared with all his 
might for it (1 Chr. 29:1-3). 

But those Israelites who have refused God’s Foun- 
dation Stone (Mat. 21:42; 1 Pet. 2:7, 8) are given 
over to the building of the temple of Mammon, where 
the ephah is enshrined, and where the woman concern- 
ing whom the angel said, ‘“This is wickedness’, is wor- 
shipped. ‘That building is not placed, of course, on 
God’s enduring foundation, but even as the angel said, 
“upon her own base’. Hence its overthrow will be 
complete, in the day when the word shall go forth, 
“Babylon is fallen, is fallen”, and heaven will ring 
with Alleluias. 

In the recently published English Version of the 
O. T. issued by the Jewish Publication Society of 
America (Fifth impression, 1924) * the word ‘“‘ephah’’ 
in Zechariah V is rendered ‘‘measure”—(‘‘This is the 
measure that goeth forth’), which brings the vision 
still closer to that of John, who heard a voice in the 
midst of the four cherubim say, “A measure of wheat 
for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny” 
(Rev. 6:6). This brings us to the consideration of the 
significance of the words uttered by that voice. 


‘““BREAD BY WEIGHT”’ 


To eat “bread by weight” and to “drink water by 
measure’ (Ezek. 4:16) is to be in an evil state. It 
means a social condition wherein everything that enters 


*A really excellent Version, containing a number of improved readings, 
though its excellencies are due to the fact that it follows closely the A. V., except 
Ay certain passages, in most of which it follows the readings of the Am, Stand, 

er. 





The Opening of the Seals 221 


into the life of human beings, down to the very prime 
necessities of every individual man, woman, and child, 
has been completely commercialized. ‘The words that 
characterize the mission of the black horse and rider 
mention specifically the bread of the rich, ‘wheat’, 
and the bread of the poor, “‘barley’’; thus declaring in 
figurative language that the very bread of life of every 
individual was to be under the control of this system, 
which has come to pass most literally, in that the prices 
of wheat and other grain are fixed from day to day, 
according to market ‘‘quotations’’, which are precise to 
a fraction of a cent, those prices being settled in secret 
by potentates who never appear in the public eye, but 
whose decrees are more absolute than those of Caesar 
of old. 

It is clear enough to anyone who puts his mind to it 
that an invisible autocracy, which is able thus to place 
an inflexible price upon the food of men, is really the 
master of their lives, or ‘‘souls’. Hence we can 
clearly see, in the light of the foregoing facts, that the 
system described in Chapter XVIII, under the symbol 
of a great commercial city, which is the outcome of the 
mission of the black horse and rider, has attained to 
full development in our day. And in that light we can 
also see clearly the significance of the fact that the list 
of the merchandise of that great city begins with “gold 
and silver’, and ends with “‘bodies and souls of men’’. 
The list embraces also ‘‘wine and oil and fine flour and 


wheat’”’ (Rev. 18:12, 13). | 





222 The Patmos Visions 


This complete domination of the necessities of hu- 
man existence by an invisible system of finance has 
come about so quietly, and so gradually, that only a 
few wide-awake ones have realized what was going on: 
and their voices, when they have sought to cry an 
alarm, were easily stifled, or drowned out. Yet any 
one who will give a little attention to the well-known 
facts of the history of commercialism will be able to 
realize what a tremendous change has taken place since 
the era of the steam-engine and the machine, and what 
it involves for human society at large. 

A short time back there were no daily quotations of 
the prices of grain, nor could there be. There were 
no quick fortunes made, no victims impoverished, no 
homes and hopes destroyed in a day, by the operations 
of mysterious powers, which moved the prices up or 
down at pleasure, and to whose ‘“‘quotations”’ the whole 
world must submit. For in those days the ordinary 
family raised its own grain, had it ground at the mill, 
baked its own bread, spun and wove its own thread 
and cloth, made its own clothes, and traded off its sur- 
plus for the services of the blacksmith, the shoe-maker, 
the carpenter or other artizan, who served the little 
community with his strength and skill. Thus every 
family was a principality, and every community a self- 
contained and independent commonwealth; and finance 
had no more dominance over the lives of men than 
had the phases of the moon. But that state of human 
society is gone, and gone forever; and since those who 
now control “the bodies and souls of men’’, control 





The Opening of the Seals 228 


also the agencies whereby “public opinion” is shaped, 
the idea has been impressed upon the minds of the 
masses that, under this new despotism of “‘things”’, 
they are vastly better off than their forefathers, in the 
totally different conditions of those days. And again, 
in these times when the docile multitudes accept ready- 
made opinions just as they wear ready-made clothes, 
fashioned according to the autocratic decrees of their 
rulers, they have been taught that economic and indus- 
trial conditions are governed by impersonal “‘laws’’, 
like the laws of nature, with the operation of which 
we are unable to interfere. 

But the commercializing process does not limit its 
operations to the sphere of man’s natural bread. It 
extends its control over his spiritual food also. For 
the ministry of the Word of God has been commer- 
cialized, and that with a view not merely to the profit 
and advancement of men who, professing to be Christ’s 
ministers and ambassadors in an evil and hostile world, 
really make themselves the mouth-pieces of the world, 
and preach a “gospel” that is thoroughly conformed 
to its principles, but with a view also to the adultera- 
tion of the bread of life, to make it both unpalatable 
and innutritious. Such a state of things has come into 
existence throughout christendom, and has now de- 
veloped to full maturity. 


THE OIL AND THE WINE 


But the voice that issued from the midst of the 
cherubim, and which was a voice not merely of proph- 


enh 5 7 OT SEE OES ESE Ee OE EE SUTIN FLERE IE TT EELS TET REET? 
224 The Patmos Visions 


ecy but of authority also, added this prohibitive com- 
mand: ‘‘And see thou hurt not the oil and the wine”’. 

The grouping of symbols here suggests, and directs 
us to, that great creation-psalm, the 104th. In it the 
psalmist describes in language of great beauty, and by 
means of appropriate figures of speech, God’s arrange- 
ment of the earth for man’s habitation and his welfare. 
There we read: ‘‘He causeth the grass to grow for the 
cattle, and herb for the service of man, that he may 
bring forth food out of the earth; and wine that 
maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his 
face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man’s 
heart” (vv. 14, 15). Here we have the same symbols 
as in Revelation 6:6, bread, oil and wine; and we are 
surely warranted by that circumstance alone in reading 
the one verse in the light of the other. What we 
gather by so doing is that the power for harm allowed 
to the rider on the black horse was restricted, even as 
God set strict limits to Satan’s power to afflict Job. 
The black horse rider was not to be permitted in any 
part of his career to “hurt the oil and the wine’’. 
There is great comfort in this assurance for those who 
are truly the people of God. It tells them that even 
in the days of spiritual dearth, when the giving forth 
of the bread of life was to be as by measure and price, 
the “oil” of God’s Spirit and the ‘‘wine” of His joy 
were not to be injured; so that even to the very end of 
things down here, His people can always have a heart 
gladdened by the wine of God, and a face shining with 
the oil of God. 





The Opening of the Seals 225 


One more passage may be cited in which these four 
symbols, the wheat and the barley, the wine and the oil, 
are mentioned. The reference is to the first chapter of 
Joel, where these words are found: 


“The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is 
wasted: the new wine is dried up, the od languisheth. Be ye 
ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the 
wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is 
perished. “The vine is dried up and the fig tree languisheth; 

. . because joy is withered away from the sons of men” 


(vy. 10:12). 


This important prophetic passage tends further to 
show how the chief products of the Holy Land are 
used as the symbols of spiritual realities. 

Specially do the words, “‘the oil and the wine”’ recall 
the beautiful gospel parable of the Good Samaritan 
who came to the man lying stripped and wounded by 
the wayside, and who bound up his wounds, “‘pouring 
in oil and wine’ (Lu. 10:33, 34. Here again these 
symbols speak most definitely of the consoling and 
healing influences of the gospel of Christ; and in the 
light of this well-known passage, the words of the voice 
which John heard in the midst of the four living crea- 
tures gives us to know that the black horse rider was 
not to be permitted to “hurt” the restoring and heal- 
ing ministry of the gospel. | 

The influence of unbelieving Israel throughout the 
world during this age was to be very great, insomuch 
that it must needs figure largely in any foreview of our 
era. But the influence of that scattered yet coherent 








POO iy The Patmos Visions 


people was to affect not only the commercial affairs of 
men (which is what is here symbolized), but their prac- 
tical and religious concerns also. We should therefore 
expect to find in other visions, appropriate symbols of 
their politico-religious influence also. And such we do 
find, as will be shown in the following pages. 


THE PALE Horse 


“And when He had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice 
of the fourth living creature say, Come and see. And I looked, 
and behold a pale horse, and his name that sat on him was 
Death, and Hell followed with him. And power has given 
unto them over the fourth part of the earth to kill with sword, 
and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the 
earth’’. 


The word rendered “pale” is chloros, from which 
the gas known as “chlorine” is named. It is of a sickly 
green, a livid, corpse-like color. The word occurs in 
two other places in Revelation, in both of which it is 
translated “green” (8:7 and 9:4). The significance 
of the color of the horse is not so clear as in the other 
three cases. But we do not need so much help in this 
case as in the others, for the name of the rider is given, 
Death. Moreover, Death is here joined with Hell, 
that is, Hades, the nether world, as in Chapter 1:18 
(see our comments supra), and also in Chapter 20:13 
and 14. ‘The rider is ‘‘Death’’, and his mission is ‘‘to 
kill”; and “Hades” is pictured as following with him, 
to gather in, as it were, the victims. 


SS ER RRIF RE PP ESE SPEDE IAT 
The Opening of the Seals 227 


Inasmuch as death has been busy in the world, and 
every part of it, since the fall of man, it is evident that 
the passage is highly figurative and symbolical; and 
that death must here represent some destructive spirit- 
ual influence that has been specially active in the gospel 
era. I think it will not be difficult to identify the influ- 
ence or agency here symbolized. 

We start with the fact that the Devil has the power 
of death (Heb. 2:14); and we learn from the parable 
of the Tares in the field that after the sowing of the 
“good seed” of the gospel, the enemy was to come and 
sow tares among the wheat; and in explaining the par- 
able the Lord said that “the enemy’, who sowed the 
faces puis tones WevilwatViatilsn 2425 sors Oy cee 
then we are right in the view that the four horses rep- 
resent respectively the four spiritual agencies that have 
chiefly influenced and determined the character of 
“christian” civilization, and that the first horse and 
rider represent the gospel of Christ, then our Lord’s 
teaching would lead us to expect something going forth 
after the gospel, representative of some special form 
of satanic activity, and corresponding to the going 
forth of “the enemy” into the field (and ‘‘the field is 
the world”) after the Son of man has sowed the good 
seed therein. In other words, the pale horse and its 
dread rider supplies exactly what is needed to make the 
vision of the four horses a complete picture of the 
mighty spiritual agencies that have been at work in 
christendom during this entire dispensation. Hence it 
strongly confirms the view we have presented of the 





228 The Patmos Visions 


meaning of the vision (Chapters IV-VI) as a whole. 

Manifestly, the going forth into the world of the 
gospel of Christ necessitated a complete change of tac- 
tics on the part of the “‘enemy’’. ‘Those devices which 
had served to keep the nations in the darkness and cor- 
ruption of paganism would serve no longer. Other 
means MUST BE adopted; and the course of the gospel 
MUST BE observed and followed with something spe- 
cially adapted to counteract its influence and nullify its 
effects. The effect of the gospel is to impart life; but 
the purpose of the Devil is ‘‘to kill”. Those who re- 
ceive Christ in the gospel, by faith, are gathered into 
the Kingdom of God, where ‘“‘grace reigns unto eternal 
life’. In contrast with this, Death is accompanied by 
Hell, or Hades, into which its victims are gathered. 
The gospel is ‘‘the word of truth’’; hence by contrast, 
the Devil would employ for his ends, various forms 
of “the lie” (2 Th. 2:12) that is to say, some decep- 
tive form of teaching, some imitation of the gospel, 
“another gospel’, which presents “another Jesus”, a 
gospel which denies or omits the saving truth of the 
death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This deadly, 
soul-destroying “‘lie’, in various forms has followed 
the track of the gospel in every part of the field, and 
from the days of the apostles until now. Wherever 
the white horse and his rider have gone, in every land, 
the pale horse and his rider, with Hell following after, 
have been close behind. And the enemy has employed 
various destructive agencies, not only killing with the 


LS 


The Opening of the Seals 229 








sword,* (which I take as representing the direct thrust 
of some “‘lie’’ such as the denial of the Godhead of 
Christ, or of His atoning sacrifice); but also “with 
hunger” (dearth of spiritual food) ; and ‘‘with death” 
(spiritual pestilence, as some popular heresy like 
“christian science’, spreading like a contagious dis- 
ease) ; and ‘‘with the beasts of the earth” (which rep- 
resent the human governments, as appears from Chap- 
ter XIII, which the Devil has often been able to use 
with destructive effect in opposition to the gospel). 


We have seen the significance of the number four, 
that it has to do with creation; and we observe that 
the four living creatures, who are associated in a spe- 
cial way with the purposes of God in the new creation, 
are definitely related to the action of the four horses 
and their riders. ‘This tends further to confirm the 
view that what God has here revealed to us are the 
symbols of the four major spiritual agencies, whereby 
the character of this age, in which the new creation is 
in process of completion, has been largely determined. 
And now, in the light of history, we can plainly see that 
the religious, social, industrial, and political conditions 
of our era are what they are, and what they have been, 
because of these four mighty spiritual potencies, which 
have had free play therein from the beginning of the 
dispensation until now. ‘Those influences are peculiar 
to this age; for they arose out of the coming of the 





* Not the same word as in 6:4, which might mean the sword in a judicial 
sense; but a sabre, or any like weapon. 





230 The Patmos Visions 


Lord Jesus Christ into the world, and out of what He 
did, and what was done to Him. The first and great- 
est in its effect is the gospel, in which God is acting 
upon the world directly through His Word and Spirit. 
By the other three the effects of Christ’s coming into 
the world act upon it indirectly. For the strife and 
variance (the “sword’’) which He said He would send 
throughout the earth, were provoked by the gospel, 
and have always and everywhere followed in its wake; 
likewise the powerful influence of international finance 
and commercialism has resulted from the judgment of 
God in scattering throughout the civilized world the 
apostate, Christ-rejecting nation; and finally, the 
Devil’s campaign of venomous lies, murderous heresies, 
suppression of the Scriptures, and stirring up the 
hatred of governments, is directed squarely against the 
truth of the gospel. 

We are so familiar with these conditions, as were 
our forefathers for generations back, that we see noth- 
ing unusual in them; and hence we have assumed that 
so it has always been. They seem to us like a part of 
the very course of nature. But by a little effort of the 
mind, and by throwing the clear light of Scripture upon 
the history of civilization, we can grasp the fact that 
the conditions in which we live are such as were un- 
known to antiquity; and that they originated from the 
time when Jesus Christ died on the cross at the hands 
of His own people, and when He rose again, ascended 
the throne of the universe, received from His Father 
the inscribed warrant of His sovereignty, and pro- 


ep sR PES RS TT EG RHEE ETS PEPE EE SE PRE ESAT SPT TT 


The Opening of the Seals 221 


ceeded to exercise His supreme authority in heaven and 
earth by opening the seals thereof. For a truly stu- 
pendous change in the course of human affairs took 
place from the occurrence of what was proclaimed by 
the apostle Peter to men out of every nation under 
heaven on the day of Pentecost, in these remarkable 
words: “Therefore, being by the right hand of God 
exalted, and having received of the Father the promise 
of the Holy Ghost, He (Jesus Christ) hath shed forth 
this, which ye now see and hear” (Acts 2:33). 

It is a great encouragement to the writer of these 
pages to realize that the charter of that everlasting 
Kingdom is even now in His hands. For it means 
that things are not going at present and have not in 
the past gone, hap-hazard in the world; and it means 
also that if the powers of evil have been allowed wide 
scope, it is by His permission, and because the condi- 
tions resulting therefrom are precisely those which 
best suit His wise and holy purposes during the day of 
grace, wherein He is visiting the nations of earth to 
take out from them a people for His Name. 

It has been observed that the color scheme of the 
horses shows a progression downward, ending in dark- 
ness and death. This is ‘“‘according to the course of 
this world” (Eph. 2:2). But God’s order reverses this. 
He finds us in a state of death and darkness, and brings 
us into that place where life is abundant as a river, and 
where there is no need of the sun, neither of the moon; 
for the glory of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is 
the light thereof. 





232 The Patmos Visions 


THE FIFTH SEAL 


“And when He had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the 
altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and 
for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud 
voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not 
judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? 
And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it 
was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, 
until their fellow servants also and their brethren, that should 


be killed as they were, should be fulfilled’ (6:9-11). 


We have seen that the enthronement of Jesus Christ 
had immediate and far-reaching effects in heaven and 
on earth. And now we are given to see that it caused 
a great commotion also in the place where the holy 
dead await the coming of the day of glory. 

Inasmuch as this vision of the fifth seal has not to 
do with events on the earth, the cherubim retire from 
the scene. 

Evidently these souls under the altar are the 
prophets of God and the faithful witnesses of Old 
Testament times, of whom it is recorded that they 
were stoned, sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain 
with the sword; who, “having obtained a good report 
through faith, received not the promise; God having 
provided some better thing for us, that they without 
us should not be made perfect” (Heb. 11:37-40). It 
is implied that the souls under the altar were sharing 
the expectation of all who at that time were looking 
for the manifestation of the Kingdom of God in power 


The Opening of the Seals 233 


and glory, who thought the day would immediately 
come (cf. Lu. 19:11) when the wicked will be judged 
for their evil deeds, and particularly for their persecu- 
tion and murder of the saints of God. They had in 
mind such passages as Deuteronomy 32 :41-43: “I will 
render vengeance to Mine enemies, and will reward 
them that hate Me... Rejoice, O ye nations, with His 
people; for He will avenge the blood of His servants, 
and will render vengeance to His adversaries’. They 
did not understand God’s purposes in grace, and did 
not know that the day of salvation for all men through 
the gospel was to intervene between the cross and the 
resurrection of Christ, and the day of wrath and revel- 
ation of the righteous judgment of God. They are now 
comforted, however, and white robes were given unto 
every one of them. 

Not much is revealed in the Scripture as to the con- 
dition and occupation of those who have passed from 
this scene and are awaiting the resurrection of the just. 
But it is made known to us that they are in a state of 
conscious happiness; and from the statement that 
‘white robes were given to every one of them’’, we un- 
derstand that they received some immediate benefit 
from the enthroned Christ. Their position as “under » 
the altar” speaks of the faith they had when on earth, 
as looking to God’s typical sin-offering, appointed by 
Him in those days of imperfection as a “shadow” of 
the true Sin-offering. 





234. The Patmos Visions 


THE SIXTH SEAL 


“And I beheld when He had opened the sixth seal, and lo, 
there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sack- 
cloth of hair, and the moon became as blood, and the stars of 
heaven fell to the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely 
figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven 
departed as a scroll when it is rolled together: and every moun- 
tain and island were moved out of their places. 

“And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich 
men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every 
bond man, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and 
in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and 
rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth 
on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great 
day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” 


(6:12-17). 

From the fact that the day of wrath comes into view 
at the opening of the sixth seal it may be properly in- 
ferred that no other influences of the same general 
character as those pictured by the four horses and their 
riders were to arise and operate in the affairs of men 
during the long day of “the kingdom and patience of 
Jesus Christ”. It may also be gathered that those 
four influences were’to continue to shape and give char- 
acter to the course of human history down to the very 
end. ‘hus it is seen that the visions of the seals as a 
group are complete and unitary. Other matters which 
God might be pleased in His wisdom to foretell, mat- 
ters differing in character from those of this series, 
would be properly shown under other groups. They 
would be out of place here. 


The Opening of the Seals 235 


The vision of the sixth seal shows that the dawning 
of the day of judgment would not find the great ones 
of the earth converted to God, but just the contrary. 
It is a picture which could have been drawn only by 
Him Who sees the end from the beginning. 

The opening of the sixth seal brings to the view of 
the seer the conditions of things on earth at the be- 
ginning of “the day of wrath and revelation of the 
righteous judgment of. God”’, a day long foretold, but 
which, because of the marvellous forbearance and long- 
suffering of our God (2 Pet. 3:9, 15) is not yet come. 
The conditions of that awful ‘“‘day’”, as seen by John, 
are those of world-wide disturbance and extreme vio- 
lence, such as to strike terror to all hearts; such as to 
cause the great ones of the world, those who have 
occupied the highest positions therein and enjoyed its 
richest benefits, to realize that the great day of the 
wrath of the Lamb is come at last. 

Those conditions are described by the seer in terms 
which, after the manner of prophetic utterances, are 
highly figurative. Therefore it is particularly import- 
ant at this point to remind ourselves that the language 
of the Book we are studying is symbolical. Accordingly, 
events in political and social spheres of human affairs, 
as well as those in the spiritual realm, are pictured in 
terms of physical things and happenings. 

The symbols employed in this passage are borrowed 
from the mightiest agencies and powers of nature; and 
they are crowded close together. First there is “a 
great earthquake’’, which speaks of some tremendous 





236 The Patmos Visions 


social upheaval, one of great violence and of wide ex- 
tent. At the same time the sun becomes black like sack- 
cloth of hair; and the moon becomes like blood. These 
being the Bible symbols of “‘the higher powers’ which 
‘‘are ordained of God” (Gen. 1:16-18; 37:9, 10), it 
is evident that verse 12 puts before us a scene of an- 
archy. For the supreme governmental authority, rep- 
resented by the sun, is blotted out of the political 
heavens. And because of the complete failure of gov- 
ernment there is profuse shedding of blood; while re- 
peated shocks and convulsions occur among the peo- 
ples of earth, like the tremors of a great earthquake. 
What most nearly corresponds in history to this awe- 
inspiring picture is the so-called “reign of terror’? at 
the beginning of the French Revolution. That fear- 
ful epoch of anarchy and bloodshed, which prepared 
the way for the reign of Napoleon Buonaparte, is a 
foreshadowing, no doubt, of what will happen on a 
world-wide scale as a prelude to the final period of the 
reign of the Beast (Chapter XIII). 

Verse 13 adds another vivid detail to the picture. 
It tells of the stars of heaven falling to the earth, as 
a fig-tree casts its unripe figs to the ground, when 
shaken by a mighty wind. Thus the storm and tempest 
of those days will be such as to shake all things, in 
fulfilment of the prophecy: “Yet once more I shake, 
not the earth only, but also heaven” (Hag. 2 76); and 
those in positions of eminence—rulers, great ecclesias- 
tics, and other persons of distinction—will be toppled 





The Opentng of the Seals 237 


out of their high places, and cast down to the level of 
common humanity. 

In Hebrews 12:26, 27 we have a brief but inspired 
commentary on the prophecy of Haggai, whereby we 
learn that the word “Yet once more’’, signifies “‘the re- 
moving of those things that are shaken’’; and in agree- 
ment with this, John records, “And the heaven de- 
parted as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every 
mountain and island were moved out of their places’’. 

These images are very appropriate to express a 
complete breaking up and a sweeping away of the 
whole system of human government, and organized 
human society, as it has existed from ancient times. 
They recall Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, in which human 
government as a whole was imaged as a gigantic figure 
of a man, and its end was described in these words: 
“Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver and 
the gold’’—materials whereof the image was com- 
posed—‘‘broken to pieces together, and became like 
the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind 
carried them away, that no place was found for them”’ 
(Dan. 2:35). 

There is a passage in Isaiah that is closely related 
both in thought and language to the one we are now 
examining. The prophet is speaking of the time when 
‘the indignation of the Lord shall be upon all nations’. 
(Isa. 34:2-4), of which he says: “And all the host of 
heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be 
rolled together as a scroll; and their host shall fall 








238 The Patmos Visions 


down, as the leaf falleth from off the vine, and as a 
falling fig from the fig tree’. 

The apostle Peter likewise, in the passage referred 
to above, has this same “‘day’’ in view, when he says, 
“But the day of the Lord will so come as a thief in 
the night; in the which the heavens will pass away with 
a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent 
heat; the earth also, and the works that are therein, 
shall be burned up” (2 Pet. 3:10). 

In Ezekiel 32:1-15 is a prophecy that throws light 
upon the vision now before us. The prophet was fore- 
telling the violent overthrow of Egypt at the hands 
of Nebuchadnezzar; for the figurative language of the 
prophecy is explained by the words: “For thus saith 
the Lord God, The sword of the King of Babylon shall 
come upon thee. By the swords of the mighty will I 
cause thy multitude to fall; and they shall spoil the 
pomp of Egypt, and all the multitude thereof shall be 
destroyed” (vv. 11, 12). In the prophecy this na- 
tional overthrow is pictured in these terms: 


“And when I shall put thee out (or extinguish thee), I will 
cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover 
the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give Her light. All 
the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set 
darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord God” (vv. 7, 8). 


The same images appear in Isaiah 13:9, 10:— 


“Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath 
and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate; and He shall destroy 
the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven, and the 
constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be 





The Opening of the Seals 239 


darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her 
light to shine’. 


Again, in Joel 3:15, 16 we read: — 


“The sun and moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall 
withdraw their shining. The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, 
and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the 
earth shall shake’. 


In the foregoing passages it was in each case but 
the overthrow of a single nation that was predicted; 
whereas in Revelation 6:12-17 the upheaval and de- 
struction are world-wide. Hence the images are in- 
tensified, as in Joel 2:30, 31, “And I will show won- 
ders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, 
and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into 
darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great 
and terrible day of the Lord come’’. 

These passages indicate clearly the meaning of the 
symbols here employed. They will come again under 
our notice in connection with the events of the fourth 
trumpet (8:12). 

The tremendous convulsions of human society which 
the vision presents to our eye affect principally those 
who occupy the highest social positions, ‘‘the kings of 
the earth’, the great financiers, the captains of indus- 
try, and the like. These behold the great industrial 
and social fabric which they helped to rear up, and 
which seemed so solid and enduring, tumbling down 
upon their heads; and the sight is so terrifying that 
they flee—not however to Christ for refuge from the 


240 The Patmos Visions 


coming wrath, as they might have done earlier, but— 
to the dens and caves of the earth; and it wrings from 
their hearts that despairing cry to the mountains and 
rocks, ‘‘Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him 
that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the 
Lamb”. 

Isaiah describes this feature of that day also; for, 
speaking of those who are proud and lofty, he says: 
‘And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and 
into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and 
for the glory of His majesty, when He ariseth to shake 
terribly the earth’ (Isa. 2:17-19). And the Lord 
Jesus also spoke of the time to come when they should 
‘begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us, and to the 
hills;: Cover us”) (10/123 :30). | 

The prophecy of James 5:1-6 applies here. It be- 
gins with the words: ‘‘Go to now, ye rich men, weep 
and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you”’; 
and it warns them that they have “heaped treasure 
together for the last days.” 

We are not given to know the precise way in which 
these prophecies are to be fulfilled; nor is it needful 
for us to understand more than is made plain by the 
words of the cry of these great ones of the earth, 
namely, that conditions of danger, violence and up- 
heaval have come to pass, such as to fill the heart of 
man with the extremest terror and despair, conditions 
such that to be buried under rocks and mountains 
would be far preferable. 


The Opening of the Seals 241 


Specially it should be noted that this part of John’s 
vision reveals the fulfilment of the concluding verses 
of the Second Psalm. I have already pointed out that 
the vision of Chapter V, where the Lamb is seen as- 
cending the throne of the universe, shows the fulfilment 
of the words of verse 6 of that great prophetic Psalm: 
“Yet have I set (7. e., anointed) My King upon Zion, 
the mountain of My holiness” (Jewish Version) ; and 
that the opening of the seals of the book placed in His 
hands, answers to the words, ‘“‘I will declare the de- 
cree’ (Ps. 2:7). Then we have the admonition to 
the rulers and leaders whose terror is depicted in 
John’s vision, the kings and chief men of the earth: 
‘Be wise now therefore, O ye kings; be instructed, ye 
judges (or leaders) of the earth. Serve the Lord 
with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, 
lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when 
His wrath is kindled but a little” (vv. 10-12). 

The words, ‘And every mountain and island were 
moved out of their places’’, further speak of disturb- 
ances among the nations and peoples of the earth; for 
mountains in Scripture stand for conspicuous nationali- 
ties (Jer. 3:23, 51:25; Zech. 4:1), and islands repre- 
sent lesser communities (Isa. 42:4; 51:5; 60:9). 

This is not indeed the very end of all. But it is the 
beginning of the end, the last days, the time of the end. 
As says Hengstenberg: 


“If we do not stand hete exactly at the final end, yet we 
stand at the beginning of the end. ‘The great day of His 
wrath’ is immediately before the door, is as good as come; and 





242 The Patmos Visions 


Chapter VII can only come in as an episode between Chapters 
VI. 17 and VIII. 1, where the dawn of that day is announced”. 


THE COMPANY OF THE REDEEMED 


After the words of the panic-stricken kings and 
magnates announcing the advent of the great day of 
wrath, the action is interrupted, and a scene of a very 
different character is introduced with these words :— 


“And after these things I saw four angels standing on the 
four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, 
that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor 
on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, 
having the seal of the living God; and he cried with a loud 
voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth 
and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the 
trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their fore- 


heads’ (7:1-3). 

Why, we would ask, is this particular vision, occu- 
pying the whole of Chapter VII, introduced at this 
precise point? ‘The answer suggests itself when we 
observe that the preceding visions of this group reveal 
how things were to go during this age with men in 
general, ‘Therefore what is needed just here is some- 
thing to show the provision God has made for the 
protection of His own people on earth; and this is 
specially called for at the time when the gathering of 
storm-clouds of exceptional blackness, along with other 
unusual commotions, announces the advent of the great 
day of wrath. So here is just the picture that is 
needed. For it is apparent at a glance that the company 
of the sealed ones is in direct contrast with that of the 





The Opening of the Seals 243 


panic-stricken ones of the sixth seal. It is the counter- 
part of that scene. 

And here again it is appropriate to reflect upon the 
wisdom seen in the design of the Book, in that the time 
of the fulfilment of many of the visions is left in such - 
uncertainty that every generation of believers could 
appropriate to itself the consolation it conveys. Thus, 
while the vision of Chapter VII stands in direct connec- 
tion with the eve of the day of wrath, and will not be 
actually fulfilled till then, nevertheless the truth it 
declares and the comfort it imparts are applicable at 
every period of storm. For whenever the clouds have 
gathered in the spiritual or in the political skies, the 
oppressed saints of God have been permitted to hope 
that this was the storm in which their trials will be 
forever ended, and have sought (and not in vain) the 
special consolations contained in this wonderful Book, 
and particularly in visions such as that now opened to 
our view. : 

I am writing these lines (in May, 1925) under the 
strong conviction that the storm-clouds now gathering 
so darkly, and of which our political and spiritual 
weather-prophets are giving us daily information, are 
the very storm foreshown under the sixth seal; and 
this, of course, invests the present vision with peculiar 
interest. Yet, while so believing, I am quite aware 
that I and others who share this view, may be mistaken, 
as were those in the days of the French Revolution, 
and so on back to the first century. But, at the same 
time, neither I, nor they, am or were mistaken in 


ASN OEE TE TPT BE FTE TET WE TSP WEDS 2 SET EEE STENT NATE SH RTE DEES RUTES YS EET VE 
244 The Patmos Visions 

appropriating the comfort of this vision of Chapter 
Vil: 

The relation of this vision to that which immediately 
precedes it is plainly marked. There we have the 
darkening of the heavens and the ‘mighty wind’’. 
Here we are taken back to a time anterior, when the 
four angels are holding the winds in check, ready to 
release them at the word of command. There we have 
the effects on land and sea, (mountains and islands) 
and on the great ones of earth; and here we see the 
wind ready to blow upon the earth, and the sea, and 
the trees (the latter being a common Bible symbol for 
eminent persons, as kings, magnates, etc.). 

The wind is a symbol of divine visitation in judg- 
ment, and the four winds denote the universality of 
such a visitation. Thus in Jeremiah 51:1 we read: 
“Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will raise up against _ 
Babylon . . ..a destroying wind.’ In Daniel 7:2 the 
four winds are seen striving upon the great sea, that 
being explained by the context as the divine judgments 
that were to be executed by the conquerors of the 
world. In Jeremiah 49:36, the divine judgments , 
rushing in from every side are spoken of as the four 
winds: “And upon Elam will I bring the four winds 
from the four quarters of heaven.’’ And the passage 
in Zechariah 6:1-5 is particularly illuminating. For 
there the revealing angel tells the seer that the four 
chariots he had seen represent ‘“‘the four winds (marq.) 
of the heavens’. These Scriptures also give a hint 
that the armies of powerful and ruthless nations may 





The Opening of the Seals 245 


play a leading part in the fearful storm in which the 
history of this wonderful age of progress, science and 
invention will end. And it is pertinent to recall in 
this connection that “‘the next war’’, which the ablest 
observers of current events are constantly discussing, 
will be, from the sheer necessities of the case, unpre- 
cedentedly destructive, and unprecedentedly merciless. 

The command to hurt not the earth, etc., is given in 
‘‘a loud voice” by an “angel” who is seen ascending 
from the east, having the seal of the living God. We 
take it this ‘‘angel” represents Christ; for it is He who 
seals His servants with the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 1:21, 
22; Eph. 1:12-14; 2 Trin. 2:19), and it is He who 
comes between the impending wrath of God and all the 
earth, being in that sense “‘the Saviour (or Preserver) 
of all men, specially of them that believe” (1 Tim. 
4:10). Ina similar time of impending judgment on the 
inhabitants of Jerusalem, Ezekiel saw a vision of the 
glory of God, and heard a command given to one 
clothed in linen to go through the city and set a mark 
on the foreheads of those who sighed and cried be- 
cause of the abominations thereof (Ezek. 9:3, 4). 
After him others were to follow and “slay utterly old 
and young”, but were to “‘come not near any man on 
whom is the mark”. The correspondence between the 
vision of Ezekiel and that of John is striking. 

The number of those who were sealed, in John’s 
vision, is given as ‘“‘an hundred and forty four thousand 
of all the tribes of the children of Israel”. This com- 
pany is seen again at the beginning of Chapter XIV, 





246 The Patmos Visions 


where we read: ‘‘And I looked, and lo, a Lamb stood 
on the mount Sion, and with Him an hundred forty and 
four thousand, having His Father’s Name written in 
their foreheads’’. 

What does this company represent? 

I take it as representing “the Israel of God”’ (Gal. 
6:16) in its totality; that is to say, the complete and 
perfect number of God’s elect. The numerical and 
other symbols are suitable to the expression of this 
thought. ‘That numbers, when they appear in visions, 
as the seven spirits of God, the Lamb having seven 
horns, etc. express ideas and not arithmetical values, 
is apparent throughout the Book. Now the number 
twelve is definitely associated in Scripture with the 
people of God. In this vision the meaning is intensi- 
fied by the fact that of each tribe the number of sealed 
ones is given as precisely twelve thousand. Thus, in the 
total, the number twelve is multiplied by itself, and 
then by one thousand. That is to say, it is the 
“square” of twelve, multiplied by the number of en- 
largement and totally, a thousand. Thus the idea ex- 
pressed by the numerical symbol as a whole is that of 
solidity and perfection (the square) and completeness. 
Therefore we feel warranted in taking the meaning of 
this symbolical language to be that, ere the storm of 
the wrath of the Lamb actually breaks upon the world 
' of the ungodly, the entire “Israel of God” (Gal. 6 16), 
perfect and complete to the very last member, is to be 


_| gathered out of the world. We believe we have here 


the fulfilment of our Lord’s own prophecy: “And He 





The Opening of the Seals 247 


shall send His angels with a trumpet and a great voice 
(marg.); and they shall gather together His elect 
from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the 
other” (Mat. 24:31). Giving to the preposition ek 
its usual significance here, the meaning would be a 
deliverance from out of the path of the world-wide 
storm (four winds). ‘Thus the passage, in connection 
with what immediately precedes it (both being under 
the sixth seal), presents a company which is in striking 
contrast with that other which cries to the rocks and 
mountains to fall uponthem. ‘There are none of God’s 
people in the first company, and none but His in the 
second. 

Clear light upon this passage may be had from 
Exodus XXX. What is before us in this vision is the 
final numbering of the Israel of God; and in the 
Exodus passage we have God’s original directions for 
the numbering of His people. ‘The esssential matter 
appears in these words: “When thou takest the sum 
of the children of Israel, them that are to be numbered 
(marg.), then shall they give every man a ransom for 
his soul unto the Lord, when thou numberest them. 
This they shall give, every one that passeth among 
them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel 
of the sanctuary. . ... The rich shall not give more, 
and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, 
when they give an offering to the Lord to make an 
atonement for your souls’ (Ex. 30:12-15). 

The grand and fundamental truth, to which this 
passage bears clear testimony, is that every man, who is 


248 The Patmos Visions 


finally numbered among the people of God, has been 
ransomed; that none are numbered among them save 
those for whom an atonement has been made. And 
another closely related truth appears also, namely, that 
in the great matter of sin and atonement, all men stand 
upon the same level before God. All require precisely 
the same ransom; ‘‘for there is no difference; for all 
have sinned”’. 

When the people were numbered by Moses, the num- 
bers came out unequal, ragged, incomplete. ‘‘For the 
law made nothing perfect’’. But in this final enumera- 
tion of those for whom Christ ‘“‘gave Himself a ransom 
for all” (1 Tim. 2:6), the result is perfect and sym- 
metrical. When Satan tempted David to say, ‘“‘Go, 
number Israel’’ (2 Sam. 24:1; 1 Chr. 21:1), the thing 
displeased the Lord, and “‘therefore He smote Israel’’. 
For His time had not come for the numbering of 
Israel; because the ransom had not yet been paid. 

In the handwriting on the wall at Belshazzar’s feast, 
the first word (twice repeated) was ‘‘Mene’’, mean- 
ing numbered; and Daniel explained that this meant, 
“God hath numbered thy Kingdom and finished it” 
(Dan. 5:26). Thus we learn that what God finally 
numbers, and takes the sum of, is finished. So here we 
have the completion of the roll of God’s elect. 

Further support for the view just stated as to the 
character of the sealed company of a hundred and forty 
four thousand, is found in the last vision of the Book, 
where the City of God, the heavenly Jerusalem, is seen. 
For there again the symbolical number twelve appears 





The Opening of the Seals 249 


as characterizing in a special way the eternal abode of 
God and His redeemed people. This is clear evidence 
that the number twelve pertains not to the earthly peo- 
ple and their city, but to the entire company of the 
redeemed of all the earth and their eternal home. In 
that last vision we are shown “twelve gates, and at the 
gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which 
are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of 
Israel” (21:12). ‘Also we find there “twelve founda- 
tions, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of 
the Lamb” (v. 14). Also the symbolical number 
“twelve thousand” and ‘‘an hundred and forty four” 
(the square of twelve) appear in the dimensions of the 
City (vv. 16, 17). Indeed, this thought is carried, in 
that last vision into three dimensions, the cube; for it 
is said that the length and breadth and height of the 
City are equal. 

The following comments by others seem to me to 
give the right view of the matter: 


Hengstenberg: ‘The sealing refers to the entire duration of 
the christian era, even to its final completion. Therefore, it has 
not yet lost its significance. And for the present time in par- 
ticular it is full of consolation, as the sixth seal is beginning to 
be realized anew in a manner never seen before” (so it seemed 
to him over seventy years ago. And how much the more 
today!). “The plagues against which the sealing brings secur- 
ity, threaten alike all who have been redeemed by the blood of 
Christ out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and 
nation; not a word being said as to any separate division of 
Jewish Christians’’. 

Bossuet: “It is necessary to understand in the numbers of 
the Apocalypse a certain mystical sense to which the Holy Spirit 





250 The Patmos Visions 


seeks to draw our attention. he mystery we are to learn here 
is that the number twelve, sacred both in the synagogue and in 
the church because of the twelve patriarchs and the twelve 
apostles, is multiplied by itself in order to make twelve thousand 
in each tribe, and twelve times twelve thousand in all the tribes 
together, that we might perceive the faith of patriarchs and 
apostles multiplied in their successors; and in the solidity of a 
number so perfectly square might see the eternal immutability 


of the truth of God”’. 


The list of the tribes as given in Chapter VII pre- 
sents a striking peculiarity. Although the company is 
said to be “‘of all the tribes of the children of Israel”, 
yet in the list that follows, the tribes of Dan and 
Ephraim are omitted altogether, and the number 
twelve is made up by including Joseph (along with 
Manasses his son) and Levi. This peculiarity is enough 
in itself to indicate clearly that we have here a sym- 
bolical and not a historical “Israel”. For while it 
might be possible, though not easy, to suggest a reason 
why Joseph and Manasses should be named instead of 
Ephraim and Manasses (who are never separated in 
any other enumeration of the tribes), it is not possible, 
on the theory that this is the literal Israel, to account 
for the complete omission of the tribe of Dan. All 
attempts to do so have conspicuously failed. 

But if we regard this vision as being, like all the 
others, composed of symbols, then we may hopefully 
look for an explanation of the peculiarity referred to. 
My suggestion is that the desired explanation will be 
found in the meanings of the names of Jacob’s twelve 
sons. 





The Opening of the Seals 251 


The family of Jacob occupies a unique position in 
the Scriptures. It is a marvellous type of the family 
of God. ‘This has been clearly recognized, and the 
significance of the type has been pointed out, by gifted 
teachers. Each of Jacob’s sons receives a name that 
expresses some characteristic of the people of God, or 
some truth pertaining to them. This too has been 
often pointed out; so that we need not enlarge upon it. 
All that is needed for our purpose is to note the 
grouping of the names in this enumeration of them 
(for though they are named a number of times in the 
Bible, in no two lists is the order exactly the same) ; 
and to observe how the meanings of the names apply 
in this, the last presentation of the ‘‘good olive tree’, 
the Israel of God, as it here stands before us in the 
symmetry and completeness of its final perfection. 

The name Israel, a Prince with God, was passed on, 
as we know, from Jacob, to whom it was first given, to 
the family and nation of which he was the progenitor, 
and from them to the heavenly people (Gal. 6:16). 
Like the associated names, Zion and Jerusalem, the 
name Israel always belonged to that which is heavenly 
and eternal (Heb. 12:22). It was bestowed only 
temporarily upon the earthly counterpart. Of the | 
twelve names of Jacob’s sons, that of Judah obtained 
special prominence (though he was not the first-born), 
insomuch that for long periods it shared with /srael the 
distinction of being the generic designation of God’s 
people. Judah means Praise. This name (Jew) also 
passed on to the true people of God, as appears from 


252 The Patmos Visions 


Romans 2:28, 29: “For he is not a Jew who is one 
outwardly; neither is that ‘circumcision’ which is out- 
ward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, 
and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit and 
not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of 
God’”’. Obviously this last clause would be out of har- 
mony with the rest of the passage but for the fact 
that Jew means Praise. Having that fact in mind, we 
see in it a declaration of the truth that the real Jew is 
one not by natural generation (“‘of men’’) but by spir- 
itual generation (‘‘of God’’). 

1. It is most appropriate therefore that in the set- 
ting forth of the completed and perfected Israel of 
God the name Judah should lead off. For here we see 
“the whole family” (Eph. 3:15) whom God had 
chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, 
‘to the praise of the glory of His grace” (Eph. 1 :4-6). 
In Jacob’s blessing of his sons, he says: ‘‘Judah, thou 
art he whom thy brethren shall praise’ (Gen. 49:8). 

2. Reuben, the firstborn, comes next in this vision 
(Rev. 7:5). The meaning of his name is Behold a 
Son (Gen. 29:32). This name appropriately follows 
the name Judah, since every one of this company is a 
son of God. 

3. The name of Gad is next, though he was seventh 
in the order of birth. His name signifies a Troop, i. e. 
a great company, such as is here presented to view. 
Thus we understand that we have here a vision of the 
“Many Sons” whom Christ is “bringing unto glory” 
(Heb. 2:10). 


OS ee en SR EEN NT A CT ANTS FO SRY Be TORE SY DT SS Oe TNT A 


The Opening of the Seals 253 


4. Next comes Asher, meaning Happy, or Blessed, 
this being the company of the ‘“‘blessed’’ ones. It be- 
longs to every one of this great troop of sons. 

5. Nephthalim follows. ‘This name signifies Wrest- 
lings. At his birth Rachel said, ‘With great wrestlings 
have I wrestled with my sister, and have prevailed”’ 
(Gen. 30:8). As one of the designations of the people 
of God it reminds us of the fact that they by grace 
have overcome, or prevailed over, their adversaries. 
They are all overcomers. 

6. The next is Manasses, one of the sons of Joseph, 
born to him in captivity. The record concerning this 
son is: “And Joseph called the name of the first-born 
Manasseh, (i. e. Forgetting). For God, said he, 
hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s 
house” (Gen. 41:51). The appropriateness of this 
name as applied to the children of God is obvious. In 
Psalm 45:10 the bride is addressed in these words: 
‘‘Flearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine 
ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father’s 
house’. All the redeemed have forgotten their con- 
nection with the house of their natural father, Adam. 

7. Simeon, Jacob’s second son, comes next. His 
name means Hearing. It was given him because, as 
his mother said, “the Lord hath heard that I was 
hated” (Gen. 29:33). Every one of the household of 

faith is entitled to this name also, for ‘‘faith cometh 
by hearing’. Each one has been given the hearing 
ear of faith to receive the word of the truth of the 
gospel. 





254. The Patmos Visions 


8. Then follows Levi, meaning Joined, reminding 
us of the great truth that every one of the redeemed is 
“Joined unto the Lord” (1 Cor. 6:17). 

9. Issachar is next on the list. His name signifies 
‘A Hire” (Gen. 30:18), that is, something for which 
a price was paid. So this too is an appropriate name 
for those to whom it is said, ‘“Ye are not your own; for 
ye are bought with a price’ (1 Cor. 6:19, 20). 

10. Then follows Zabulon, whose name means 
Dwelling; “for Leah said, Now will my husband dwell 
with me’? (Gen. 30:20). This prophetic utterance 
applies also to the redeemed people of God. For they 
are “builded together for an habitation of God” (Eph. 
2:20), even as God had said, “I will dwell in them’ 
(2 Cor. 6:16); and even as, in the last of the visions 
of the Apocalypse, John hears a great voice out of 
heaven, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is 
with men, and He will dwell with them” (Rev. 21:3). 

11. Joseph comes next. His name, which means 
Adding, has been variously applied. One thought 
prominently involved in it is that of growth and fruit- 
fulness. This thought comes out clearly in the blessing 
of Jacob: “Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful 
bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall” 
(Gen. 49:22). This description clearly applies to the 
children of God, of whom it is said, “But now ye have 
your fruit unto holiness” (Rom. 6:22), and of whom 
Christ Himself said: “I AM the vine, ye are the 


» 





The Opening of the Seals 255 


branches. He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the 
same bringeth forth much fruit’ (John 15:5). Jacob’s 
words, “‘Whose branches run over the wall’’, have their 
fulfilment historically in the fact that the gospel passed 
beyond that “‘wall of partition’ which formerly sep- 
arated Jews and Gentiles, but which was ‘broken 
down”’ by the death and resurrection of Christ (Eph. 
2:14) ; so that Gentiles too were ‘‘added”’ to the great 
household of faith. The same thought is expressed in 
the name of Joseph’s second son, Ephraim (who is 
omitted from the list) so named because, as stated in 
Joseph’s own words ‘‘God hath caused me to be fruit- 
ful in the land of my affliction” (Gen. 41:52). Now 
inasmuch as Ephraim was, next to Judah, the most 
important of the tribes of the natural Israel, it would 
be impossible to account for the omission of Ephraim 
from this list if it were to be taken literally and as a 
prophecy to be fulfilled in the earthly people. But if 
the vision be symbolical, and if the meanings of these 
names, so carefully recorded and explained in the Book 
of Genesis, were to be fully revealed in the last Book 
of the Bible, and in connection with the great antitype 
of Jacob’s wonderful family, then it is easy to be seen 
that the name Ephraim is dispensed with for the reason 
that its meaning is embraced in the name Joseph. The 
fulfilment of the meaning of Joseph’s name begins 
early in the history of the Kingdom of God as recorded 
in Acts. For there we read that, from the day of 


ESAT EES CR SEES SE SE ESSA TST EARS TENET TESORO PLT PERS TESTER 


256 The Patmos Visions 


Pentecost and onward, ‘The Lord added to them daily 
such as were being saved”’ (Ac. 2: 47). 

12. Benjamin comes last. His mother named him 
Benoni, meaning the Son of my Sorrow; but his father 
called him Benjamin, that is the Son of the Right Hand 
(Gen. 35:18). ‘This two-fold name of Jacob’s last son 
foreshadows the Lord Jesus Christ in a remarkable 
way. For He was, as it were, the last-born of Jacob, 
and He came forth of Israel when, like Rachel, Israel 
was approaching the period of “hard labour’, and was 
at the point of death. Benjamin was born when “there 
was but a little way to come to Ephrath’’, which was 
to be the birth-place of Christ (Gen. 35:16, 17). 
Moreover, Jesus Christ was both the Son of His 
mother’s sorrow (for we recall Simeon’s words to 
Mary, ‘‘Yea, a sword shall pierce through thine own 
soul also’, Lu. 2:35), and was also the Son of God's 
right hand, where, and whereby, He is now exalted 
(Ac. 2:33; 1 Pet. 3:22). But the two-fold name of | 
Jacob’s youngest son is appropriate also as the final 
designation of the entire Israel of God. For they too 
are both the sons of Christ’s sorrow, the fruit of the 
travail of His soul, and also the sons of the right 
hand of His power, whereby He has saved them from 
all their enemies, has lifted them out of the horrible pit 
into which sin had plunged them, and has raised them 
up to where He himself is enthroned in the heavenly 


places. 





The Opening of the Seals CAST 


THE INNUMERABLE COMPANY 


“After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man 
could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and 
tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed 
with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a 
loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the 
throne, and unto the Lamb” (Rev. 7:9, 10). 


This vision I regard as another pictorial representa- 
tion of the whole company of the redeemed, supple- 
menting that which immediately precedes it, and show- 
ing details that could not be introduced into the pre- 
ceding vision. Indeed, what is given in verses 4-8 is not 
strictly a “‘vision” at all. Those verses only record what 
John “heard” concerning “the number of them which 
were sealed’. But now he is given to see them; and 
lo, it is an innumerable company gathered out of all 
nations, kindreds, peoples, and tongues of the earth. 
Thus the former part of the passage reminds us that 
the election of God’s grace was complete in His mind 
from eternity past, every one of them having been 
chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world 
(Eph. 1:1-6) ; and it further reminds us that the day 
of grace cannot end until the very last of those chosen 
ones shall have been saved and “sealed with that Holy 
Spirit of promise” (Eph. 1:13, 14). The latter part 
of the passage brings to view that the company of the 
elect, ‘‘the whole family” of God (Eph. 3:15), is a 
vast number, taken out of al/ the nations and tribes of 
earth. It is what is expressed by the olive-tree in its 
final form (Rom. 11:17-25). 





258 The Patmos Visions 


? 


This vision puts before our eyes the fulfilment of 
the words of Christ spoken on the occasion of the first 
manifestation of faith in Himself by a Gentile: “Verily 
I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no not 
in Israel. And I say unto you, That many shall come 
from the east and west and sit down with Abraham, 
Isaae and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven’”’ (Mat. 8: 
10, 11). And here John sees them, an innumerable 
company, incorporated into the Israel of God. 

The latter part of the passage also shows us the 
position of the elect of God. They stand ‘‘before the 
throne, and before the Lamb”; and it shows that they 
are clothed in white robes, the garb of the redeemed; 
and also that they have palms in their hands, which pro- 
claims them as sharers of Christ’s victory over all His 
and their enemies. It also gives us the words of their 
song, the first word being ‘‘Salvation’’. 

The words, “‘of all nations, and kindreds, and peo- 
ples, and tongues” identify this company with that 
which sings the new song of Chapter 5:9 to the Lamb, 
saying, ‘‘For Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us 
to God by Thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, 
and people, and nation”’. 

This is evidently that great “‘salvation’’ whereof the 
apostle Peter says, “‘which things the angels desire to 
look into” (1 Pet. 1:9-12); for the next words of our 
passage are: “And all the angels stood round about the 
throne, and about the elders, and the four living crea- 
tures, and fell down before the throne on their faces, 
and worshipped God, saying, Amen: Blessing, and 





. The Opening of the Seals 259 


glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and 
power and might, be unto our God for ever and ever, 
Amen’’. Upon comparing this seven-fold doxology 
with that of Chapter 5:12, it will be seen that they are 
identical as to six of the seven terms (for “‘strength” 
in 5:12 is the same in the original as “might” in 7:12), 
the only difference being that in the later song the term 
“thanksgiving” takes the place of “riches” in the 
earlier. 

Then follows the explanation brought out by a two- 
fold question addressed to John by one of the elders: 
“What are these which are arrayed in white robes? 
and whence come they?” John confesses his inability 
to answer by saying, ‘‘Sir, thou knowest”’. Whereupon 
the elder replies: ‘“These are they which are coming 
out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes 
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rey. 
7:13, 14). We give the correct rendering, ‘‘are com- 
ing’, instead of the incorrect and misleading ‘‘came”’ 
of our A. V., because the tense is exceedingly impor- 
tant. Some modern expositors take this “‘great tribu- 
lation” to be the same as that whereof our Lord 
prophesied in Matthew 24:21, and make it a period 
yet future, a period that is to be immediately after the 
return of the Lord to raise the dead and change the 
living saints. Indeed it is a leading feature of the 
futurist system that there is to be a “great tribulation” 
after the rapture of the saints, and that those who 
are saved in that period will not be a part of the 
church, the body of Christ. According to that system 


260 The Patmos Visions 


of interpretation these white-robed, palm-bearing ones 
are “‘tribulation saints”, who will occupy a different 
and a lower place in the glory from that of the re- 
deemed of this present dispensation of grace. But 
there are various and serious objections to that view: 

1. The elder expressly said of those whom John 
saw in that vision that they were then, at that very 
time, coming out of great tribulation. This alone for- 
bids postponing that tribulation to a future dispensa- 
tion. 

2. Those white-robed ones have the very same 
‘‘salvation”’ that is now proclaimed to all men, for it is 
said of them that ‘‘they have washed their robes and 
made them white in the blood of the Lamb”’ (cf. 1:5, 
peo Peta\lis 13 id 91) % 

3. The blessedness which is theirs, as described in 
verses 15-17 of our passage, is the same as that of all 
the redeemed, as described in Chapter 21 :1-4. 

4. The term “robes” in verse 13 properly desig- 
nates marriage robes, and the definite article precedes 
this word, and also the important word ‘‘white’’. ‘This 
gives peculiar force to the entire phrase, the full sig- 
nificance of which might be expressed thus: ‘“‘Who are 
these who are arrayed in the richest marriage-robes of 
purest and most radiant whiteness?” ‘The statement 
of verse 14, that they have “washed their robes and 
made them white in the blood of the Lamb”, clearly 
identifies them as belonging to the company of the 
redeemed. (Compare the words of Ch. 1:5, ‘““Who 
loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own 





The Opening of the Seals 261 


blood’, and those of Chap. 5:9, ‘For Thou was slain, 
and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood’ ). 

5. The Scripture gives us no warrant whatever for 
preaching or teaching any salvation other than that 
which the gospel now offers to all alike; or any salva- 
tion after the ending of this present day of grace. 
This modern doctrine of another hope, and of another 
day of salvation, salvation of another sort than that 
of the gospel of Christ, has no support in the Scripture 
that I can discover. 

We conclude therefore, that in the vision of Chapter 
VII we are given two views of the entire company of 
the redeemed, the two together presenting a complete 
showing forth, symbolically, of the truth with respect 
to them. 


THE SEVENTH SEAL 


“And when he had opened the seventh seal there was silence 
in heaven about the space of half an hour” (8:1). 


This one sentence is all that is recorded of what hap- 
pened at the opening of the seventh seal. As an ending 
to the seals series it is remarkable, and not a little 
mystifying. What is the significance of this silence in 
heaven? (for nothing is here said of anything hap- 
pening on earth). It surely must have some deep 
significance, and it will be well worth while to make 
diligent search for it. | 

In the first place then, we notice that this silence in 
heaven for a measured period at the opening of the 





262 The Patmos Visions 


last of the seals (which completely opens the seven- 
sealed book), is in marked, and doubtless intentional 
contrast with the rejoicings in heaven at the beginning 
of this series of visions, when the glorified Redeemer 
‘came and took the book out of the right hand of Him 
that sat upon the throne” (5:7). 

Rejecting all speculations, conjectures and surmises, 
and taking the Scripture as our only guide, let us then 
seek the meaning of this silence in heaven. 

The first clue given us is that the next time we hear 
the voices of those in heaven, including those of the 
four and twenty elders, is immediately after the sound- 
ing of the seventh trumpet, when again there is an out- 
burst of joy from “great voices in heaven’, accom- 
panied by the worship of the elders who, in this place 
only, are seen to fall upon their faces before God, 
giving Him thanks “because”, in their own words, 
‘Thou hast taken to Thee Thy great power and hast 
reigned’, these words being in agreement with what 
the “great voices’’ had just proclaimed, namely: ‘“The 
kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of 
our Lord, and of His Christ, and He shall reign for 
ever and ever’ (11:15-17). It is therefore the con- 
summation of the eternal purpose of God, that for 
which heaven and earth have long waited, which calls 
forth rejoicings and songs of loudest praises in heaven. 
Keeping this in mind, I would recall, as has been noted . 
already, that the sixth seal brought us to the eve of the 
great day of the wrath of the Lamb, that is to say, to 
‘the days of the voice of the seventh angel’’, in which 








The Opening of the Seals 263 


“days” the mystery of God, according to the glad tid- 
ings declared to His prophets, is to be finished (10:7). 
Putting these passages together we may gather that 
the solemn and ominous ‘‘silence in heaven’’, which 
marked the opening of the seventh seal, was the appro- 
priate prelude, on the heavenly side of things, to the 
stupendous events of the days of the seventh trumpet, 
in which the judgments of God upon the earth reach 
their climax, and the government is wrested finally 
from the hands of men. 

Other Scriptures will help us to fix definitely the 
meaning of this silence in heaven, touching which it 
seems to have been the custom of so many expositors 
to surrender themselves to mere conjecture. The 
principal passage is Habakkuk 2:10: “The Lord is in 
His holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before 
Him”. These words were spoken in connection with 
the going forth of the Almighty in Judgment. Hence, 
when He is about to issue forth for His final judg- 
ments upon the world, in the great day of His wrath, 
nothing could be more fitting than that all heaven 
should stand in breathless silence, awaiting the peal 
of the last trump. 

Then in Zephaniah 1:7, in a passage that contains 
threatenings of the consuming judgments of God, are 
the words, “Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord 
God; for the day of the Lord is at hand’, the word 
“hold thy peace” being identically the same as that 
rendered ‘‘keep silence” in Habakkuk 2:20. 


264 The Patmos Visions 


Finally in Zechariah 2:13, upon a similar occasion, 
are the words: “‘Be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord; 
for He is raised up out of His holy habitation’’; that 
is, raised up for the purpose of executing judgment. 

In the light of these Scriptures it may be clearly 
seen that the silence in heaven brings the group of 
seals visions to a most appropriate and most impres- 
sive ending. 


CHAPTER VI 


The Trumpet Series 


HE trumpet series occupies a clearly marked 
division of the Apocalypse. It extends from 
Chapter 8:1 to 11:18. 

What are the special characteristics of this section? 
and wherein do they differ from those of other sec- 
tions? It is most important that we should have an- 
swers to these questions; for if we proceed without 
them we are sure to lose our way. 

The first thing given for our guidance is that each 
series of visions is grouped under a distinctive symbol, 
and the several symbols—candlesticks, seals, trumpets 
and vials—are very different, both in their appearance 
and in their significance, from each other. ‘This would 
lead to the conclusion that the visions of each group 
have a common character, and also that the general 
character of the visions of each group differs from that 
of every other group. This conclusion, if sound, over- 
throws the historicist system of interpretation. For 
that system ignores the distinction between seals, 
trumpets and vials. . It looks for a succession of his- 
torical events or epochs corresponding to the seals; 
then for a second series of like character (following 
the first in chronological order) corresponding to the 
trumpets; and then for a final series of like events (his- 
torical) answering to the vials. It makes the differ- 


265 





Heb The Patmos Visions 


ence between the several series merely one of time; 
whereas the symbols plainly direct us to look for dif- 
ferences of character. But we search in vain for a 
series of historical events at the beginning of our era, 
all of the same general character and answering to the 
significance of the opening of a seal; then for a series 
later in date, of a different character, answering to the 
significance of the sounding of a trumpet; and lastly 
for another distinct series, answering to the significance 
of the pouring out of the contents of a bowl. Hence 
the historicist system does not, in this important re- 
spect at least, answer to the symbolical language of 
the Book. 

The trumpet series stands by itself, separate and 
complete. Commotions, distresses and ‘‘woes’’ mark 
every stage. The sphere is political or more exactly 
politico-religious, as will be made evident further on; 
and the entire series eventuates and culminates in what 
has ever been the joyful prospect of the people of God, 
namely, “the kingdoms of this world are become the 
Kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ”. 

Our first inquiry upon arriving at this division of 
the Book should be as to the meaning of the trumpet 
as a Bible symbol. In Scripture trumpets are used be- 
cause of their loud, piercing, and far-reaching sound. 
The purpose of a trumpet-blast is to demand the at- 
tention of all men in view of a matter of urgent im- 
portance. It is used when there is need to arouse the 
people, regardless of the character of what is about to 
happen, whether joyful or otherwise, whether to an- 


The Trumpet Series 267 


nounce a season of high public festivity, or to summon 
the people to resist an approaching enemy. In any 
case the blowing of trumpets is a call to the congrega- 
tion in respect to some transaction of unusual import- 
ance and significance, the character whereof will be 
shown by the context. The blast of trumpets may be 
used to announce a joyful event, a great triumph, as 
the fall of Jericho; or it may be used to give notice of 
a time of great distress, as in Joel 2:1, where the day 
of the Lord is announced by the blowing of trumpets: 
‘Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in 
My holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land 
tremble; for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is 
nigh at hand”’. 

All the events of the trumpet series are of a puni- 
tive nature. ‘hey have the definite character of warn- 
ings to the inhabitants of the earth, easily understood 
by all who give any heed whatever to the Word of God. 
And the main purpose would seem to be to call men 
to repentance. In this connection notice should be 
taken of the words: “Yet they repented not” (9:20, 
21), and “The remnant were affrighted and gave glory 
to the God of heaven” (11:13). 

The O. T. presents a second case (besides that of 
the taking of Jericho, hereafter referred to more par- 
ticularly) of the combination of the blowing of trum- 
pets with the numerical symbol seven. For it was or- 
dained in the Mosaic law that after seven times seven 
years, there should be a year of jubilee, which was to 
be proclaimed by the blowing of trumpets in the seventh 





268 The Patmos Visions 


month (Lev. 25:8,9). ‘This was the year in which the 
Lord announced His proprietorship of the land (‘‘For 
the land is Mine”’, v. 23). It was to be a year of “‘lib- 
erty throughout all the land into all the inhabitants 
thereof” a “‘jubilee’’, a time of the restoration of every 
one of the people of God to his possessions, a time 
when there should be no toil of any kind (vv. 10-13). 
It is easy to see how in this feast, with which the blow- 
ing of trumpets was specially associated, there is a 
foreshowing of that in which the trumpet series of 
the Apocalypse finally eventuates. And there is a sim- 
ilar foreshadowing in the “memorial of blowing of 
trumpets in the seventh month” (Lev. 23:24, 25), 
when all servile work was to cease. 

The high importance of the trumpet series is fur- 
ther indicated by the statement that the trumpets were 
given to “the seven angels which stood before God’. 
The honor of a constant standing before God belongs 
only to those of highest rank. That Christ’s little ones 
are in the care of angels who are always before the 
presence of God, is given as a warning against despis- 
ing any of them (Mat. 18:10). Christ exhorts His 
disciples to watch and pray always, that they may be 
accounted worthy to escape the evils He foretold, and 
‘‘to stand before the Son of man” (Lu. 21:36; cf. 
Dan. 1:5). That will be a high dignity and honor. 


THE MEDIATING ANGEL 


Again the special character of each division of the 
Apocalypse is indicated by the particular way the Lord 





The Trumpet Series 269 


Jesus Christ Himself is presented therein. For we 
should ever keep in mind that the Book we are seek- 
ing to elucidate is “the revelation of Jesus Christ’. 
In Chapter I-III He appears as the glorified ‘Son of 
man’’; and as such He is robed in a garment down to 
the foot, is girt about the breasts with a golden girdle, 
holds the seven stars in His right hand, and walks in 
the midst of the seven candlesticks. 

In Chapters V, VI He is seen as the enthroned Re- 
deemer to whom supreme authority is given over the 
whole creation. Here He is represented by the symbol 
of a Lamb that had been slain. 

But now, in the section before us, He is presented 
twice, both times in the character of Mediator between 
God and men. As such He is appropriately presented 
in the guise of an angel; for the angels are ministering 
spirits (Psa. 103: 20, 21; Heb. 1:14). ‘The first time, 
He is seen ministering at the golden altar, where He 
adds His own merits to the prayers of His people 
(8:3, 4). The second time, He brings from heaven a 
little book relating to future events concerning many 
peoples, nations and kings, in regard to whom John 
is commanded to prophesy (10:1-11). ‘This “‘little 
book” apparently contains the sweet-bitter prophecy 
of ‘‘the days of the voice of the seventh angel”’ (Chap- 
ters XIII-XX). 

These visions of the Lord in His office of the One 
Mediator between God and men (1 Tim. 2:5) afford 
valuable indications as to the general character of this 
section of the Book. In Chapter 8:3, 4 He is seen en- 


270 The Patmos Visions 


gaged in His great work of making intercession for 
His people, whereby He saves to the uttermost them 
that come to God by Him (Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:25, 
26). Because of the strokes that are about to fall 
upon the inhabitants of the earth, with whom His own 
people are commingled, He stands at the golden altar, 
as the mediating High Priest, and adds “‘much incense”’ 
to “the prayers of all the saints’’. 

The reference to the incense takes us back to Exodus 
30:34-38. The incense (or perfume) that Moses was 
commanded to make was a most hallowed thing. It 
was to be “holy for the Lord’. Anyone who should 
presume to make the like was to be “‘cut off from his 
people’. Its four ingredients typify severally and col- 
lectively the merits and virtues of Christ. 

That this “angel” is Christ is hardly open to doubt, 
For none other than He could receive the prayers of 
all saints and present them to God, and none other 
could add anything thereto to make them acceptable 
to God. Therefore I regard the vision of Revelation 
8:3, 4 as representing to the eye the ministry appointed 
to Christ and His people for this dispensation, as speci- 
fied in the words of the apostle: ‘I will therefore that, 
first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions and 
giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings, and 
for all that are in authority”—(etc. 1 Tim. 2:1 to v. 
8 incl.). It represents also’ what is declared in He- 
brews 7:25 concerning Christ as our great High Priest, 
serving in the power of an endless life, and able there- 


The Trumpet Series 271 


fore to save them to the uttermost who come unto God 


by Him. 


THE DIVISIONS OF THE TRUMPET SERIES 


As in the case of the seals, the trumpet series is 
divided into two parts; first a group of four, and then 
a group of three. For after the sounding of the fourth 
trumpet (8:12) the action is interrupted, and John 
sees an angel (or, as the best manuscripts have it, an 
eagle) flying through the midst of heaven, saying with 
a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the 
earth, by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of 
the three angels which are yet to sound”. 

Again, as in the case of the seals, there is a further 
interruption after the sixth trumpet, where another 
complete vision is introduced (that of Chapter 10:1- 
11:13) corresponding in its place in the trumpet series 
to the vision of Chapter VII, which comes between 
the 6th and 7th seals. 

That the trumpets severally mark distinct events or 
eras of time in the history of the world is indicated by 
the words of the mighty Angel that “in the days of the 
voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to 
sound, the mystery.of God shall be finished”? (10:7). 
This tells us that the seventh trumpet marks off a de- 
finite period of time (“the days’’), and also that some- 
thing of capital importance is to occur at the beginning 
of that period. These words, and those of the great 
voices in heaven (11:15-18), aid materially in the loca- 
tion of the eras of the trumpets; for it is clearly seen 


SS 
272 The Patmos Visions 


ae 


thereby that the seventh trumpet brings us to the eve 
of the great day of the wrath of the Lamb, revealed 
at the opening of the sixth seal. This appears by the 
words ‘‘and the nations were angry, and Thy wrath 1s 
come” (11:18). Having thus located the seventh 
trumpet with relation to the sixth seal, of which the 
fulfilment is clearly yet in the future, we have the as- 
surance that all the events figured in the other six 
trumpets precede the day of wrath. Where then do 
we now stand with respect to the stream of prophetic 
events here pictured to our minds? Is it possible to 
determine this even approximately? An attempt at an 
answer will be found in the last chapter of this volume. 

The description of the events which follow the 
sounding of the first four trumpets is very brief. It is 
given, morover, in broad and general terms. ‘This 
brevity and vagueness are in marked contrast with the 
description of what follows at the sounding of each of 
the last three trumpets, where the terms are compara- 
tively definite and many details are given. ‘The ex- 
planation of this difference I take to be that the hap- 
penings of the first group of four trumpets are the sub- 
ject of other prophecies of Scripture, so that, for the 
accomplishment of the design of the Book, it was 
necessary to present at this place only a brief summary 
thereof, in order to connect those predictions properly 
in series with other important events which, together 
with them, constitute the entire group of trumpet hap- 
penings. 


nN SSA TES RSPEI SPENT SEE SEES EEF ERIS SSE 


The Trumpet Series 273 


The symbology of the trumpet series recalls the 
siege of Jericho, to which a casual allusion has been 
already made. ‘There were seven trumpets in action 
during the seven days of that siege. Moreover, apart 
from the stirring sound of the trumpets themselves, 
which could be plainly heard by all the inhabitants of 
the doomed city, there was nothing of special moment 
after the preliminary investment of the city, until the 
seventh day. Its affairs went on in the usual way; and 
presumably the warning note of the trumpets, though 
repeated every day, came to be regarded with indiffer- 
ence. ‘Thus it is with the inhabitants of this present 
world, whose ruinous overthrow is so strikingly fore- 
shadowed by the fall of Jericho. Warning after warn- 
ing is sounded; but no heed is given. ‘The thought in 
the minds of men is just what was foretold by the 
apostle Peter. For in effect they are saying, “where 
is the promise of His coming (in judgment) ? for since 
the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were 
from the beginning of the creation” (2 Pet. 3:4). This 
view of the indefinite continuance of all things in an 
interminable process of orderly progression, is one of 
the cardinal points of the creed of the modern man. It 
rests for its support upon the delusive dogma of “‘evo- 
lution’’. 

But on the seventh day of the siege of Jericho, there 
was seven-fold activity. For the city was encircled 
seven times; and at the seventh round of trumpet- 
blowing the city fell and was captured and destroyed. 
In marked correspondence with this is the revelation 





274 The Patmos Visions 


that in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, the 
resistance of the rebel world will be at last overcome, 
and the kingdoms thereof will fall into the hands of 
Ghrists(11\:b5.). 

In the trumpet series then, we have a prophecy of 
events that affect the whole world, and that carry us on 
to the very end of the christian era; and the events of 
the entire series are of the same general character, 
answering to the significance of trumpets as a Biblical 
symbol. They are events of a politico-religious nature. 

The matters stated above also point to the conclu- 
sion that the fulfilment of the visions of the first group 
of four trumpets should be sought for in events which 
happened near the beginning of our era, but which 
were of a nature such as to have lasting effects. 

Further to guide us, we have the character in which 
Christ is presented in this division of the Book. For 
just as the explanation of the visions of the seals was 
controlled by the revelation, in that part of the Book, 
of Jesus Christ in His office of enthroned Redeemer 
and sovereign Lord of the universe, so the explanation 
of the trumpet visions will be found in events that are 
related to Christ in His office of High Priest and 
Mediator of the new covenant, in which office He in- 
tercedes for and is “‘the Saviour (or Preserver) of all 
men, specially of those that believe” (1 Tim. 4:10). 

In verse 5 we read: ‘And the angel took the censer 
and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into (or 
upon, marg.) the earth: and there were voices, and 
thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake’. 





The Trumpet Series RAZ 


These are the figures of threatenings and warnings 
of judgments soon to come. Throughout the Bible frre 
is the symbol of the consuming wrath of God. This is 
the element that the Angel casts upon the earth, with 
the accompaniment of voices (messages of God), 
thunderings (intimations of approaching judgments, 
and manifestations of God’s mighty power, Ps. 29:3, 
4; Job 37:1-5), lightnings (sharp and sudden strokes 
of judgment), and an earthquake (a great social up- 
heaval). 

The fire that was cast upon the earth was taken 
from the altar, reminding us that fire has a two-fold 
office. It both consumes the sacrifice, thus bearing up 
to God the memorial thereof in the smoke that ascends 
from the altar; and it also consumes the enemies of 
God, and all that is contrary to His truth and holiness. 

Bengel thus comments on the passage: 


“Frankincense and prayer draw a great deal after it; it is 
acceptable; it will be heard. God then causes His righteous 
judgments to go forth for a terror to the world, for the dis- 
comfiture of His enemies, and for the advancement of His 
kingdom”. 


And Hengstenberg comments thus: 


“The internal connection between the fiery prayer, and the 
fiery indignation which is to consume the adversaries (Heb. 
10:27), is shadowed forth by the circumstance that, of the same 
fire of the altar with which the frankincense was kindled, there 
was taken and thrown upon the earth. By the first use of the 
fire in kindling the frankincense it was in a manner consecrated 
for the second. Fire is here, as usual in the Apocalypse, the 
symbol of the holy wrath and judgment of God. The fire, the 





276 The Patmos Vistons 


voices, etc. have here only a prophetical character. The fulfil- 
ment of what they prophesy begins with the first trumpet and 
closes with the last. Likewise in Chapter IV. 5 the voices, light- 
nings and thunders are not the judgment itself, but the symboli- 
cal announcement of it”’. 


What was immediately introduced by the scene de- 
scribed in verses 3-5 is, in my opinion, the season of 
God’s special visitation of the Jewish nation in His 
wrath and fiery indignation as foretold in many proph- 
ecies both of the Old Testament and the New. For 
the time was come, as the apostle Peter declared, “that 
judgment must begin at the house of God” (1 Pet. 
4:17). Thus for example, in Deuteronomy 28 :45-47 
and 32:22, God plainly foretold what was to befall 
that people “at their latter end’’, saying: “‘For a fire 
is kindled in Mine anger, and shall burn unto the low- 
est hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, 
and set on fire the foundations of the mountains” 
(Deut. 32:22). ‘Phe resemblances in these old proph- 
ecies to the passage we are now studying are remark- 
able. We shall have occasion to return to them. 

An incident that illustrates what is now before us, 
and which doubtless is in view in this passage, is re- 
corded in the 9th and 10th Chapters of Leviticus. 
Aaron and his sons had just been consecrated as priests 
unto God; and it is recorded that when they for the 
first time discharged the duties of that office, and pre- 
sented a sin offering, first for the high priest himself 
(9:7-11), and then for the people (15-22), “there 


came fire out from before the Lord, and consumed 





The Trumpet Series 277, 


upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat” (24). 
Here we have the first use of the fire from God. But 
immediately thereafter, when Nadab and Abihu, sons 
of Aaron, offered strange fire before the Lord, “there 
went out fire from the Lord and devoured them’ 
(10:1, 2). This seems to be the typical illustration of 
the vision we are now considering. For Israel as a na- 
tion had been brought nigh to God, and had been sanc- 
tified for Himself; and what He said concerning those 
sons of Aaron applied also to them: “I will be sancti- 
fied in them that come nigh Me, and before all the 
people I will be glorified” (10:3). Then Moses com- 
manded that the bodies of those upon whom the fire of 
God’s wrath had fallen be carried outside the camp; 
and he commanded that the whole house of Israel ‘‘be- 
wail the burning which the Lord hath kindled” (v. 6). 
This incident may be, with profit to the reader, com- 
pared with that of Aananias and Sapphira, which tallies 
with it, even to the ery ne out of the bodies 
ACs bel (i). 

The Lord Jesus doubtless had in mind the incident 
of Nadab and Abihu, and also the season of wrath 
that was about to come upon Israel, when He said: “‘I 
am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I if it 
be already kindled?” (Lu. 12:47). The words ‘‘send 
(or cast) fire on the earth” are identically the same 
as those used of the angel in Revelation 8:5. 

It should be noted that the word rendered ‘‘earth” 
in these passages also means “‘land’’, and is often so 





278 The Patmos Visions 


rendered. So it may be that these Scriptures speak of 
the fire which was to consume the land of Israel. 

The apostle Paul likewise spoke distinctly of the 
fiery wrath of God that was soon to fall upon the 
apostate nation which had rejected first the Lord Jesus 
Christ Himself, and then His gospel, when preached 
to them by His servants with the Holy Ghost sent down 
from heaven. For he summed up their wickedness by 
saying: “Who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own 
prophets, and have persecuted us (the apostles of 
Christ); and they please not God, and are contrary 
to all men; forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles, that 
they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway’; be- 
cause of which, as he goes on to say, “the wrath is 
come upon them to the uttermost” (1 Th. 2:15, 16). 
The meaning and force of this important passage seem 
to have been generally overlooked by expositors, 
though the words are quite plain, and though the event 
whereof the apostle spoke, “the wrath upon them to the 
uttermost’, came to pass in a few years from the time 
they were written. Those words certify that the wick- 
edness of the Jewish nation had reached its predicted 
climax; that the measure of their iniquity had been filled 
up (see Gen. 15:16; Mat. 23:32); and that therefore 
the limit of God’s forbearance had been reached, and 
His wrath had come upon them “to the uttermost’’. 
This plain declaration forbids the idea, often met with 
in writings of futurists, that there is to be a yet more 
severe out-pouring of the wrath of God upon the Jews, 
when they shall have been regathered in Palestine, and 


The Trumpet Series 279 


their national existence renewed. If that view be cor- 
rect, then the Jews did not “‘fill up” their national sins 
in the days of Christ and His apostles, as both the Lord 
Himself (Mat. 23:32) and His servant Paul (1 Th. 
2:16) plainly declared. Nor, if that view be correct, 
did God’s wrath come upon them at that time ‘‘to the 
uttermost’’, as the apostle said, who, in so saying, was 
but repeating the words of Christ Himself, in fore- 
celling the approaching destruction of Jerusalem, when 
He plainly stated that at that time there should be 
‘great distress in the land, and wrath upon this peo- 
ple’; that they should “fall by the edge of the sword, 
and be led away captive into all nations”; and that 
Jerusalem should be “‘trodden down of the Gentiles, 
until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled” (Lu. 21:23, 
Oa 
In the light of all the Scriptures that bear upon the 
subject now before us (and they are many), it is clear 
that the Jewish dispensation was to end in an outpour- 
ing of the wrath of God upon that people; that they 
were to be nationally exterminated, and the survivors 
scattered all over the earth; and that their land was 
to become a desolation, and their city and temple were 
to be utterly destroyed. All this was to come upon 
them because, though they had “received the law by 
the dispensation of angels’, they had “not kept it” 
(Ac. 7:53; Rom. 2:17-23). By the light of other 
Scriptures it is equally plain that there is to be, at the 
end of this Christian dispensation, a world-wide out- 
pouring of the wrath of God, which will fall upon the 





280 The Patmos Visions 


nations to whom the gospel of God has come, but who 
have not obeyed it. To this the apostle Peter seems to 
be referring when he says, “For the time is come that 
judgment must begin at the house of God; and if it first 
begin ai us’’—the Jewish nation—‘‘what shall the end 
be of them that obey not the gospel?” (1 Pet. 4:12- 
17). He was speaking, in that passage, of “‘the fiery 
trial’ that was about to try them; for in the period of 
wrath which was then close at hand, Christ’s own peo- 
ple were to be exposed to dangers and sufferings (Mat. 
24 :20-22; Lu. 21:20-23). In view thereof the Lord 
had specially commanded His people to “‘pray”’ at that 
particular time (Mat. 24:20); and the prayers that 
were offered in obedience to that command were doubt- 
less among those which He presented to God when 
ministering at the golden altar. 

There is much light to be had also from the words 
our Lord spake to the women who followed Him with 
their lamentations while He was on His way to the 
cross. For, thinking not of the sufferings He Himself 
was about to endure, but of the wrath that was to be 
poured out ere long upon that blinded people, He said: 
‘Weep not for Me, but weep for yourselves, and for 
your children’; and then He went on to speak of the 
days of wrath and distress that were soon to come 
upon them, concerning which days He said, ‘“Then 
shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall upon us; 
and to the hills, Cover us” (Lu. 23:27-30). These 
words of our Lord refer to the prophecy of Hosea, 
who spoke of Israel as ‘‘the empty vine’’, and foretold 


The Trumpet Series 281 


the coming of a time when, because of their sin, their 
high places were to be destroyed, and they should “‘say 
to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on 
us” (Hos. 10:8). That prophecy, by the Lord’s plain 
declaration to the wailing women, was to be fulfilled 
at the then approaching destruction of Jerusalem. And 
from Revelation 6:16 we learn that the fearful de- 
struction of Jerusalem in those theretofore unparalleled 
“days of vengeance’, was but a type of the wniversal 
destruction which is to.take place at the end of this 
gospel-dispensation; for the same cry to the mountains 
and the hills will in that day be upon the lips of “‘the 
kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich 
men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and 
every bondman, and every free man’’. 

With such clear prophecies as these already written 
in the Word of God concerning the era of judgments 
on the Jewish nation, it is easy to see why but a con- 
densed summary thereof is given in the passage we 
are now studying. 

Further help in arriving at the true explanation of 
this passage (Rev. 8:5) may be had by recalling that 
the Scriptures make known to us two, and only two, 
great eras of God’s “‘wrath’’; first, the era which oc- 
curred at the close of the dispensation of the law, 
which was limited to the Jewish people (for to them 
alone the law of God had been given); and second, 
that which is yet to come at the close of the dispensa- 
tion of grace, and which will involve the nations that 
have rejected the grace of God offered to them in the 


282 The Patmos Visions 


gospel. Paul, who speaks so definitely of the one 
period as coming upon the Jews in his own time, speaks 
in the same Epistle, and with the same definiteness, of 
the other, as a day that shall come suddenly, like a 
thief; in which connection, however, he gives a most 
comforting assurance to the people of God, telling 
them that “God hath not appointed us unto wrath, 
but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 
Th. 5:1-7). Moreover, in another passage he speaks 
of that coming period of wrath as the time when “the 
Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His 
mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance upon 
them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel 
of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Th. 1:7, 8). The parallel 
between God’s dealings on the one hand with those 
who obeyed not the law (the Jewish nation) and on 
the other hand with those that have not obeyed the 
gospel (the christianized nations) is very exact. 
Having these things in mind, it is clear that, inas- 
much as the scene just preceding the first trumpet is 
manifestly not the introduction to the yet future day 
of wrath upon all the nations, for that is expressly 
placed in the days of the seventh trumpet (Rev. 
11:18), and is, moreover, introduced by a very differ- 
ent scene (Chap. X), we must needs apply Revelation 
8:5 to the wrath that came upon Israel in the days of 
Vespasian and Titus, A. D. 63-70; for there is no other 
period of wrath to which it could apply. And even if 
we were to ignore Bible indications altogether, and 
allow ourselves, as the manner of some is, to roam at 





The Trumpet Series 283 


large through secular history in quest of something 
that could be cited as a possible fulfilment of this 
prophecy, we should yet be unable to find an epoch 
that could be taken to be a day of wrath, or that an- 
swers in other particulars to the symbols here used. 
Furthermore, I expect to show that the verses which 
follow lend strong support to what has been suggested 
above. 


THE First TRUMPET 


“The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire 
mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and 
the third part of the trees was burnt up, and all green grass was 


burnt up” (8:7). 


The symbols of destruction found here are hail, fire 
and blood. ‘These form a combination of destructive 
forces quite outside the domain of nature. Hail com- 
mingled with fire constituted the seventh of the plagues 
of Egypt (Ex. 9:23-25). But here we have an addi- 
tional element, blood, which makes it plain that these 
natural agencies are to be taken in a figurative sense. 

It has been pointed out that “hail speaks of a sharp, 
swift judgment coming directly from God”. ‘This is 
seen in Exodus 9:23, cited above. In Isaiah 28:2, 17, 
where the threatened invasion of Judea by the armies 
of Assyria was the subject of the prophecy, it was said 
that the Lord had ‘‘a mighty and a strong one’’, who 
would come ‘‘as a tempest of hail, and as a destroying 
storm”. In Job 28:22, 23, the Lord Himself speaks 


of “the treasures of hail’, which He has reserved 


SS 
TELE ES SISA VETS PEPSI TEE TE SE TNT cae UP AINE SOUL IW PORTTT TENT ST IMS LED PL Tee 


284 The Patmos Visions 


“against the time of trouble, against the time of battle 
and war’. The same expression “‘time of trouble’’ is 
found in Daniel 12:1, where it is used (as I understand 
the application of the phrase) in reference to the pe- 
riod of the destruction of the Jewish nation by the 
armies of Rome. 

We recall also the words of David who, speaking 
of the manifestation of the anger of the Lord, said: 
“The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the 
Highest gave His voice; hail stones. and coals of fire” 
AP so od 3s), 

Therefore, fire and hail as symbols would be most 
suitable to represent the destructive agencies employed 
during the invasion and desolation of Judea by the 
armies of imperial Rome; and the third symbol, blood, 
speaks of the stupendous loss of life at that dreadful 
time. As Mede has put it: “John has mingled blood 
(with the other symbols) contrary to nature, that he 
might indicate how the whole of this image points to 
slaughter’. 

Trees are a familiar figure in Scripture for human 
greatness, for persons of eminence (Judg. 8 :9-13; Jer. 
72203, 1:7::83) Ezek:; 3123s) Dan. 4320-22.) ) he burn 
ing up of “a third part of the trees’’ would therefore 
signify that a large proportion of the leading men in 
the nation were to be consumed. The words “‘and all 
the green grass was burnt up” would point to the com- 
plete destruction of national or earthly prosperity, the 
sweeping away of the entire population of the land. 





The Trumpet Series 285 


Thus the symbols would all be fitly used to picture 
what happened in the day of the outpouring of God’s 
wrath upon the people of Israel, and their land and 
city. And I know of no other event or epoch to which 
they would more aptly apply. In this connection it is 
to be noted that the word here rendered “earth” also 
means “‘land’’, and specifically the land of Judea. 

It is further to be recalled that the hurting of the 
earth, sea and trees, was restrained, by special com- 
mand of God, until His servants should be sealed in 
their foreheads (7:1-3). Corresponding to this is the 
fact that the judgments following the crucifixion of 
Christ, and which began and centered in Judea, were 
delayed between thirty and forty years, during which 
time the work of the gospel was prosecuted ener- 
_ getically among the Jews. 

The phrase, ‘‘a third part’, which occurs repeatedly 
in the description of the events of this group of four 
trumpets, is the signature of their partial character. 
The time of final and complete judgment and wrath 
comes later. 


THE SECOND TRUMPET 


“And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great moun- 
tain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part 
of the sea became blood. And the third part of the creatures 
that were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of 
the ships were destroyed” (vv. 8,9). 


The waters or seas represent nations in general. 
This explanation of the symbol is given in Revelation 





286 The Patmos Visions 


17:15. Likewise in Jeremiah 51:13 the prophet ad- 
dresses Babylon, saying: “O thou that dwellest upon 
many waters’. 

A mountain is the Bible symbol for a nation. Thus 
Babylon is called a ‘“‘destroying mountain” (Jer. 51: 
25). Daniel speaks of Jerusalem as “the holy moun- 
tain of) God7 (Dani 9 220) ing Zechariah ws 7petne 
“great mountain” before Zerubbabel was the Persian 
Kingdom, which had set itself against the building of 
the temple. In Isaiah 13:2, “the high mountain” 
whereof the prophet speaks is Babylon. What then is 
represented by this picture of the casting of a nation, 
burning with the fire of God’s wrath, into the midst 
of the other nations and peoples of the earth, and with 
unhappy consequences to them? Only once in the his- 
tory of mankind has such a thing happened. That was 
at the beginning of our era, when the whole Jewish 
nation was cast out of its own country into the midst 
of the other nations of the world. 

Moreover, that event was one of exceedingly great 
importance in the eyes of God. This appears from the 
many references to it in the prophecies of Scripture, 
and particularly from the grief of the Lord Jesus 
Christ when He had occasion to speak of it (Lu. 
19:41). 

Further light is thrown upon this passage by the 
words of Christ spoken at the time of the withering of 
the fig-tree, on which He had found nought but leaves. 
For when His disciples expressed astonishment that it 
was so quickly withered away at His word, He said to 





The Trumpet Wee 287 


them: “If ye have faith and doubt not, ye shall not 
only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also, if 
ye shall say to this mountain, Be thou removed, and 
be thou cast into the sea, it shall be done” (Mat. 21: 
21). The symbology of a mountain cast into the sea 
is so remarkable and so unusual that we are fully war- 
ranted in assuming a connection between these two 
occurrences of it. The fig-tree was a literal fig-tree, 
and the mountain on which it grew was a literal moun- 
tain (the mount of Olives). But commentators, and 
Bible readers as well, see in that fig-tree a symbol of 
Israel, in one aspect thereof. Why then may not the 
mountain be likewise a figure of Israel in another 
aspect? Certainly the figure is most suitable; and cer- 
tainly also the historical facts correspond remarkably 
well. For He who said to the fig-tree “‘Let no fruit 
grow on thee henceforward forever’, was soon to say 
to that mountain ‘‘Be thou removed, and be thou cast 
into the sea’’. 

The mountain of Revelation 8:8 was a “great moun- 
tain’, and it was “burning with fire’. The nation of 
Babylon, when visited by the fire of God’s wrath, was 
to become ‘‘a burnt mountain” (Jer. 51:25). But in 
this case the mountain was “burning with fire’? when 
cast into the sea; that is to say, the wrath of God was | 
resting upon it at the time; and this agrees perfectly 
with the facts concerning the overthrow and dispersion 
of the Jewish nation. Babylon, when overthrown, was 
indeed a “burnt mountain’, for as a nation it ceased to 





288 The Patmos Visions 


exist. But Israel has been like the bush in the desert, 
“burning” but not consumed. 

As regards the effects of the casting of this great 
mountain into the sea, there is close agreement between 
the picture before us and what is stated in several 
Scriptures concerning God’s purpose to use the people 
of Israel for the chastisement of the nations. We have 
already seen that the going forth of the ephah, repre- 
senting the rejected nation, is spoken of as the going 
forth of the “‘curse’’, and of ‘‘wickedness” (Zech. 5: 
6-8). But even clearer are the words of the Lord by 
Jeremiah, in which, addressing Jacob, he said: 


‘Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee 
will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy 
kingdoms; and with thee will I break in pieces the horse and 
his rider; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and 
his rider. With thee also will I break in pieces man and woman; 
and with thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with 
thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid. I will 
also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock; and 
. with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke 
of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces captains and 
rulers”’. 


These words declare plainly what was to be the 
mission of apostate Israel throughout the Gentile 
world in the present dispensation. That mission is not 
yet accomplished; but considering the hold the Jews 
have now secured upon the finances of the world; and 
considering also-their dominance in the spheres of com- 
‘merce and politics in all the leading nations, and their 
virtual control of public amusements and the public 





The Trumpet Series 289 


press; and considering also what has happened in Russia 
within the past decade; there surely is abundant reason 
for believing that the complete fulfilment of this pas- 
sage, and of others like it (as Isaiah 41:15, 16) is close 
at hand. 

It will be easily seen that the great event so briefly 
summarized under the second trumpet follows both 
historically and also logically the events of the first 
trumpet. For the outpouring of God’s desolating 
judgments ‘‘upon the earth”’ (i. e. the land of Judea) 
was followed immediately by the casting of the nation 
while yet ‘“‘burning with the fire’ of God’s anger, into 
the ‘‘sea’’ of peoples. This correspondence confirms 
the view here taken of the trumpet series; and what 
follows will be found to add further confirmation. In- 
deed the single fact that the trumpet series has to do 
throughout with the affairs of the nations of the world, 
assis quite: plainn(seero sks. LOe bani TS eh gietcn) sill: 
if kept in view, prevent us from going far astray as to 
the explanation of these symbols. And it is certain to 
begin with, that no other event of human history has 
had such an effect upon the political affairs of the na- 
tions of the world, from the very beginning down to 
our own times, as the dispersion among them of the — 
Jewish people, with their unique racial characteristics, 
their traditional purpose to gain the domination of the 
Gentiles (a purpose based upon the misinterpretation 
of the prophets) and the amazing tenacity with which 
they have held on to that purpose. Nothing therefore, 
can possibly be found to stand in the place to which 





290 The Patmos Visions 


this group of trumpets belongs, which historically is in 
the right era, and which in character corresponds to 
what these symbols call for, except the overthrow and 
dispersion of the Jewish nation. 

Moreover, the fact noted above will serve also to 
guide us in our quest for the explanation of the three 
‘“‘woe”’ trumpets; for that also must be sought in hap- 
penings of a politico-religious character, happenings 
which, moreover, had a wide and lasting effect. Noth- 
ing else would be appropriate to stand in this trumpet 
series. o this general subject we shall return when 
we come to the detached group of the three ‘‘woe’”’ 
trumpets. 


*THeE TuHirp TRUMPET 


“And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star 
from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the 
third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; and 
the name of the star is called Wormwood; and the third part 
of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the 
waters, because they were made bitter’ (vv. 10, 11). 


A “star” is a notable person, angel or man; and the 
‘‘heaven” may be either the political heavens, or the 
spiritual heavens. 

Here we have a great star, one “burning as a lamp”; 
and a third part of the rivers and fountains of waters 
are affected by its fall. Hlistoricists have sought for 
some great personage in the political sphere who could 
be regarded as fulfilling this remarkable symbol. But 
history tells of none that is ‘great’? enough. At the 


The Trumpet Series 291 


sounding of the fifth trumpet another star falls from 
heaven, not a “great’’ one, however, and historicists 
are agreed that this star symbolizes Mohammed. Cer- 
tainly there was no political personage prior to Mo- 
hammed (or since) that had a greater power and 
influence for evil than he; or that more successfully 
opposed the Kingdom of God. So it appears that here 
again the historicist system fails to explain the symbols. 

My opinion is that this “‘great star’? represents the 
devil himself. His name, “Lucifer”, means light 
bearer, so that the words, “How art thou fallen from 
heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning?” (Isa. 14:12) 
agree in meaning with Revelation 8:10. So also do 
the Lord’s words, “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from 
heaven” (Lu. 10:17). Then again we have the words 
of the Lord in John 12 :31-33, which fix the time of the 
casting out of Satan from heaven: “Now is the judg- 
ment of this world: now shall the prince of this world 
be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth 
will draw all men unto Me. This He said signifying 
what death He should die’. Here we have the most 
authoritative evidence that one of the immediate re- 
sults of the cross (‘‘now’’, “now” ) would be the casting 
out of Satan. The judgment of this world was the 
sentence passed upon it at the cross. ‘“The Cross is the 
condemnation of all who reject it’? (Plummer). Christ 
was about to meet the principalities and powers of 
darkness at Calvary, and to “make a show of them 
openly, triumphing over them in His cross’ (Col. 
2:15). He was soon by His own death to ‘“‘destroy 





292 The Patmos Visions 


him that had the power of death, that is the devil” 
(Heb. 2:14). 

Moreover, in Revelation 12:1-9 it is shown that at 
the time of Christ’s ascension there was war in heaven 
between Michael and his angels, and the dragon and 
his angels; and that the dragon and his angels pre- 
vailed not, “neither was their place found any more in 
heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old 
serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the 
whole world: he was cast out into the earth’. When 
we come to that chapter, further reasons will be given 
in support of the conclusion that this war in heaven 
and the consequent casting out of Satan, was at the 
time of, and indeed was provoked by Christ’s ascen- 
sion into heaven. This conclusion is fully warranted by 
the single fact that the war in heaven, mentioned in 
Chapter 12, follows immediately upon the catching up 
of the Man child into heaven. 

Furthermore, by taking the “‘great star” as pictur- 
ing a great spirit being, rather than a great historical 
personage, we are in accord with the explanation of the 
Book itself, which tells us that the stars represent 
angels (1:20). 

The name of this great star is called ‘‘Wormwood”’, 
and his mission is to make a third part of the rivers 
deadly bitter. This symbology agrees with what the 
Scriptures tell us concerning the work of Satan. It 
would not fit at all the career of a mere political per- 
sonage, however great. For running water (rivers and 
fountains). in this Book, and in other parts of the Bible 





The Trumpet Series 293 


as well, figure the life-imparting truth of the Word of 
GodiCReve 22::ly 17 oPsp3639: fer. 2 shan 4:14). 
To poison those waters would be to introduce denials 
of the vital elements of the gospel, as the Deity of 
Christ, His atoning death, and His bodily resurrection. 
An incident in Exodus 15 will illustrate this. We read 
that when the Israelites came to Marah, ‘‘they could 
not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were 
bitter’; and that when Moses cried to the Lord, He 
‘showed him a tree, which, when he had cast into the 
waters, the waters were made sweet” (Ex. 15 :23-25). 
Taking that “‘tree’’ to represent the cross, we have here 
an illustration of the truth that when the cross is 
omitted from the preaching of Christ, it is “another 
gospel’’, one that spreads death instead of life. 

Therefore, it may be gathered that the symbols of 
the verses now before us point to the activities of 
Satan, working in the early days of our era, mainly 
through unbelieving Jews, in poisoning the streams of 
truth and the wells of salvation by means of certain 
great heresies, as the Socinian and Arian, which denied 
the Deity of our Lord and the saving efficicay of His 
death. | 

We note, however, that the efforts of this ‘‘star’”’ to 
poison the fountains of truth and wells of salvation 
were to have but a partial success. Only ‘‘a third part” 
were to be affected. And with this the facts of history 
agree. 

Moses, in his last words to the people of Israel, 
warned them against the influence of the idolatries and 





294 : The Patmos Visions 


the religious customs of the nations with whom they 
were to dwell, saying, ‘‘Lest there should be among you 
man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turn- 
eth away from the LORD our God, to go and serve the 
gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a 
root that beareth gall (a poisonous plant) and worm- 
wood” (Dt. 29:18). The words “among you’, twice 
repeated, show that the evil referred to is one to be 
expected not from without, but from within. So like- 
wise in the New Testament, the exhortation is given to 
the Israel of God to be ever looking diligently ‘“‘lest 
any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and 
thereby many be defiled” (Heb. 12:15). The enemy 
of truth sows his poisonous sceds where the true “word 
of the kingdom’ has been previously sown (Mat. 13: 
25); and this has been his method from the beginning. 
His success has been great indeed, but only partial. 
“A third part of the waters became wormwood, and 
many died of the waters, because they were made 
bitter”. This, of course, is spiritual death; for a lit- 
eral fulfilment of these words is not to be thought of. 
This fallen star is still here, and is still actively engaged 
in his deadly work of poisoning the well-springs of 
truth and eternal life. “Thus we see that, in these 
trumpet visions, we have not to do with some musty 
and forgotten incidents of long past history, but with 
events that have a most important bearing upon our 
own times. 





The Trumpet Series 295 


THe FourtH TRUMPET 


“And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun 
was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part 
of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the 


day shone not for the third part of it, and the night likewise” 
(ven) 


The work of the fourth day of Genesis I was the 
appointment of the sun, moon, and stars to their offices 
with respect to the earth; the sun to rule the day and 
the moon to rule the night, “‘and the stars also”. ‘Thus 
the fourth day is associated with government, and the 
sun, moon and stars have ever been the symbols of 
governmental powers and authorities. his appears as 
early in Bible history as the days of Joseph. For his 
brethren understood at once the significance of his 
dream concerning the sun and the moon and the eleven 
stars (Gen. 37:9, 10). Hence these symbols collect- 
ively represent the whole governmental system of the 
earth, or that of some nation or part thereof which 
the particular Scripture has specially in view. 

In prophetic descriptions of coming visitations of 
God, whether upon a single people only, or in the final 
judgment upon all men, it is common to refer to the 
sun, moon and stars as being darkened or otherwise 
affected, it being evident in all such cases that the 
language is poetical and figurative, and that disturb- 
ances of government and the weakening or obliteration - 
of governmental powers, are what is signified thereby. 
Thus, in Isaiah XIII, Ezekiel XXX and Joel II, to 


which reference was made in commenting upon the 





296 The Patmos Visions 


sixth seal (6:13), where the judgments of God upon 
various nations are foretold, there is in each case the 
prediction of the darkening of sun, moon, and stars, 
it being evident that what is thus foretold in figurative 
and poetical language is the failure, partial or com- 
plete, of the governmental system to fulfil its proper 
offices for the benefit and protection of the people who 
are under it, thus leading either to the destruction of 
the nation, or to revolution, or to anarchy. 

The prophecy of Joel II, however, which is directed 
against Israel, and foretells the invasion of the land by 
the Assyrians (“the northern army’’) speaking of it 
as ‘‘a day of darkness and gloominess”’ (2:2), goes on 
to predict also the restoration of the people of Israel 
to their land (2:20-27), and then to foretell this pres- 
ent dispensation of the holy Spirit in the famous pas- 
sage quoted by Peter on the day of Pentecost. In it 
the prophet tells of the coming of “the great and 
terrible day of the Lord’’, at the end of this dispensa- 
tion; and in that connection occurs the following: ‘‘And 
I will show wonders in the heavens and in earth, blood, 
and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned 
into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the 
great and terrible day of the LORD come” (2:28-31). 
Clearly, if the language of the other passages is figura- 
tive, this must be figurative also, and must be under- 
stood as referring to the spiritual and political heavens 
and powers. For it must be remembered that “the 
powers that be are ordained of God’, and are main- 
tained by Him; for which cause His people are to show 





The Trumpet Series 297 


respect to them and to pray for them. God has set 
them in the political heavens, and has assigned their 
offices to them; just as He has set the sun, moon and 
stars in the physical heavens, and appointed them their 
several offices. 

Therefore, consistency requires that we should take 
the words of the Lord Jesus Christ in His prophetic 
discourse on Mt. Olivet, where He foretells the dark- 
ening of sun and moon, and the falling of stars from 
heaven (Mat. 24:29) ina figurative sense. ‘he words 
‘and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken’”’ lend 
support to this view, especially when we consider them 
in the light of Hebrews 12:25-29. In that passage the 
kingdom of God, which “we” have received, is spoken 
of as “a kingdom which cannot be shaken’. Hence 
the words, ‘‘Yet once more J shake, not the earth only, 
but also heaven”, must refer to all dominions and 
authorities that are in opposition to God. 

There is a marked resemblance between the Lord’s 
Olivet prophecy and what is pictured by the imagery 
of the first four trumpets. The Lord spoke of the 
great distress that was to be in the land, and the wrath 
that was to come upon the people of Judea (Lu. 21: 
23); which agrees with the symbols of hail, fire, and 
blood cast upon the earth (or land) at the sounding of 
the first trumpet. ‘Then He told of the leading forth 
of the survivors into captivity “‘into all nations’, and of 
the concurrent treading down of Jerusalem by the Gen- 
tiles (v. 24); which agrees with the symbol of the 
casting of the great mountain burning with fire into the 








298 The Patmos Visions 


sea. And then He said: ‘‘And there shall be signs in 
the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars’ (v. 25), 
using precisely the same symbols as in Revelation 8:12 
(fourth trumpet) ; ‘‘and upon the earth distress of na- 
tions with perplexity, men’s hearts failing them for 
fear and for looking after those things which are 
coming on the earth; for the powers of heaven shall 
be shaken” ; which words indicate a state of things simi- 
lar to that pictured in Revelation SLO Mell CH 
trumpet). 

The prophet Amos uses similar figurative language 
in speaking of the day of wrath that was soon to come 
upon the Kingdom of Israel (the ten tribes), saying, 
“and it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, 
that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will 
darken the earth (or land) in the clear day”. Micah 
also, foretelling the same event, says: ‘Therefore night 
shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and 
it shall be dark unto you that ye shall not divine; and 
the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day 
shall be dark over them” (Mic. 3:6). 

Therefore, in the light of all these Scriptures, I 
feel bound to take the symbols of the fourth trumpet 
as picturing an era of disturbed governmental condi- 
tions, an era of the weakening of authority in both the 
spiritual and political spheres of human affairs; and 
especially an era of the darkening of the minds of men 
through agencies and influences that obscure the truth 


(2:Cor 424). 


The Trumpet Series 299 


A similar, but far worse, state of affairs is to come 
at the very end of the christian dispensation. At the 
era of the fourth trumpet the disturbances and the 
darkening of the skies were but partial, for only “the 
third part”’ of the sun, and of the moon, and of the 
stars was darkened; whereas at the coming of the great 
and final day of wrath the sun will become “black as 
sackcloth of hair’, the moon will become as blood, 
and the stars will fall from heaven as unripe figs from 
a fig-tree when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Con- 
versely, the prophet Isaiah, prophesying of the com- 
ing of the Lord for the deliverance of His people, 
speaks of the augmentation, instead of the diminishing, 
of the light of the heavenly luminaries, saying: ‘‘More- 
over, the light of the moon shall be as the light of the 
sun, and the light of the sun shall be seven fold, as the 
light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth 
up the breach of His people, and healeth the stroke 
of their wound”’ (Isa. 30:26). 

In Isaiah 60:19, 20 and again in Revelation 21:23, 
the meaning of these symbols is carried out to the full. 
In the former, where the glory of the heavenly city is 
in view, ‘Lhe city of the LORD, the Zion of the Holy 
One of Israel” (Isa. 60:14), the prophet says: “The 
sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for 
brightness shall the moon give light unto thee; but the 
LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy 
God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down; 
neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the LORD 
shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy 





300 The Patmos Visions 


mourning shall be ended”. This speaks in poetical and 
figurative language of the time when Christ shall have 
put down all rule and all authority and power, and the 
Kingdom shall be the Lord’s alone. The words of 
Revelation 21:23 are of like import: “And the city 
had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in 
it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb 
is the light thereof’. 

When therefore these trumpet symbols are read in 
the light of Scripture, which is certainly the proper 
rule of interpretation, they are found to correspond 
more closely with those momentous and far-reaching 
happenings that marked the early days of the christian 
era and have influenced its character throughout, than 
with any other historical events. 

Furthermore, the happenings to which they have 
been applied in the foregoing pages are directly related 
to the history of the Kingdom of God on earth, which 
is the prominent subject of the prophetic Word. On 
the other hand, the events to which they are com- 
monly referred by historicists (the successive invasions 
of the territory of Imperial Rome by Goths, Lom- 
bards, and Huns) have but a remote bearing upon that 
subject. Those irruptions did, of course, have some 
influence in the breaking down of the Roman Empire, 
and thus they contributed in a measure to the darken- 
ing of the political skies; but they were minor factors, 
the prominent agency being the overthrow and disper- 
sion of the Jewish nation. 





The Trumpet Series 301 


As for the futurist interpretations of the passage, 
they lie beyond the reach of investigation. Hence it is 
not possible to examine or discuss them intelligently 
or to any purpose or profit. It would seem, moreover, 
as if those who adopt the futurist system of interpreta- 
tion lose sight of the fact that one great purpose of 
prophecy is that those to whom it is given may know, 
by the event, whether it be the word of the Lord or 
not (Deut. 18:22). So likewise the Lord said, ‘““Now 
I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, 
ye may believe that I am He” (John 13:19). If this 
be the purpose of the prophecy of the Apocalypse, it 
would be defeated completely by the futurist system, 
which postpones it en masse to another dispensation, 
subsequent to the resurrection and rapture of the 
saints. 

Finally as to this part of the Book, I call attention 
again to the fact that the first four trumpets consti- 
tute a distinct group, whose members are closely con- 
nected together. This confirms the view given above, 
according to which these four visions had their fulfl- 
ment in those great and far reaching events which 
attended the break up of the Jewish nation. 


Tue THREE GREAT ADVERSARIES OF THE KINGDOM 
or Gop 


We have now arrived at a point in our exposition 
where it will be advantageous to take a broad survey of 
the history of the Kingdom of God during the nineteen 
centuries that have elapsed since the first proclamation 





302 The Patmos Visions 


thereof on the day of Pentecost, in order to mark the 
principal adversaries that have risen up to oppose it. 
For if the view adopted in this exposition as to the 
subject of the trumpet-series is the right one, then the 
visions seen in the course of that series will reveal, by 
appropriate symbols, the chief of those adversaries. 

In making this survey let us have clearly in mind 
that the very essence of the gospel of God is that to 
Jesus Christ of the seed of David, raised from the 
dead, all authority has been given; that God has ex- 
alted Him to be a Prince and a Saviour; and that it is 
He Who will judge the living and the dead at His 
appearing and His kingdom. The gospel is preached 
for the obedience of faith among all nations on behalf 
of His Name (Rom. 1:5; 16:26). It calls upon all 
men everywhere to submit in loyal obedience to Him as 
sovereign Lord and King. This is the main purpose of 
the preaching of the gospel. True, the eternal salva- 
tion of those who render to Him the obedience of faith 
is assured; but that is secondary. For God’s highest 
purpose is the glory of His Son (John 5:21-23; Phil. 
2:9-11) ; and it is for His own glory chiefly that He is 
become ‘the Author of eternal salvation to all them 
that obey Him” (Heb. 5:8), that is to say, to those, 
and those only, who willingly own Him as “Lord”, 
and render to Him the obedience of loyal and loving 
hearts. For it cannot be too strongly emphasized that 
the supreme purpose of God in this dispensation is to 
establish the rule of Jesus Christ in the hearts of men, 
His agencies for the accomplishment of that purpose 


The Trumpet Series | 303 


being the Word of God (the gospel), and the Spirit 
of God. 

Now the absolute sovereignty of Jesus Christ, and 
His Lordship over men, is being proclaimed by the gos- 
pel in the very territory over which the Devil has held 
sway since sin and death entered into the world. Hence 
the age-long conflict with the prince of this world, and 
with all the principalities and powers of darkness, and 
hosts of spiritual wickedness, that are confederated 
with him. What is in dispute is the allegiance of the 
children of men. We must not lose sight of that fact; 
for it is the key to the whole situation. ‘The Evil One 
is striving desperately to keep his captives from avail- 
ing themselves of the door of escape opened by the 
death and resurrection of Christ, and from joining 
themselves to Him. And to this object he bends all his 
energies, puts into action all the forces at his disposal, 
and employs all his subtleties and powers of deception. 

Let us remember then that the true explanation of the 
whole course of human history lies in the region of the 
unseen; and that it is only by a divine revelation, such 
as has been given us in this Book, that the hidden 
causes of the great historical movements and epochs 
of the world of men can be known. And particularly 
let us bear in mind that all the disorders, conflicts, rest- 
lessness and miseries of the world, proceed from the 
resistance that the Devil has offered, and still offers, 
to the establishment of the sovereignty of Jesus Christ 
over the hearts of men. For once that authority is 
acknowledged, peace comes to the heart. 





304. The Patmos Visions 


Now, in the light of these facts of Scripture, it is of 
the deepest significance that there have appeared dur- 
ing all the centuries of the Christian era just THREE 
great systems, having a religious character and a politi- 
cal aim, which have set themselves in direct opposition 
to the declared purpose of God, that purpose being to 
bring everything under the rule, dominion, and sov- 
ereignty of Christ. Those three systems are satanic- 
ally energized, and with the one object of frustrating 
the purpose of God. For this world was the strong 
man’s palace; and he was keeping his goods (human 
souls) in peace, until the Stronger than he appeared 
upon the scene, and stripped him of his armour wherein 
he trusted (Lu. 11:21, 22). Christ’s coming into the 
world was for the one purpose, which He caused to be 
proclaimed in the most public way, of setting up a 
Kingdom—the Kingdom of God. This was a direct 
challenge to “the prince of this world”, who has never 
ceased, from that time until now, to resist the attempt 
to “spoil him of his goods”’. 

The first system that offered organized and satanic- 
ally inspired opposition to the Kingdom of God was 
the Jewish nation, the leaders of which were declared 
by Christ Himself to be the children of the Devil 
(John 8:44). That nation has miraculously main- 
tained its national existence and its traditional religion 
(“the traditions of the elders’) through all the cen- 
turies, of our era; and it is, of course, as bitterly 
opposed as ever to the faith of Jesus Christ. For 
Judaism has not improved or changed its nature during 








The Trumpet Series 305 


the nineteen centuries of its existence in “this present 
evil world’. Its aim still is supremacy over the Gen- 
tiles, and its religious attitude is as uncompromisingly 
anti-christian as it ever was. Satan, who inspired and 
directed its activities at the beginning, is still its spir- 
itual leader and energizer. Apostate Judaism has 
neither quit the field of conflict, nor has it changed 
sides. Let us make no mistake about that. Its char- 
acter and career as an opponent of Christianity is pic- 
tured in the first group of four trumpets. 

The second of the three great systems, religious in 
character, but having for its political aim the domina- 
tion of the world, is Mohammedanism. As we are 
about to view, under the vision of the fifth trumpet, 
this stupendous marvel of history, the empire estab- 
lished by the false prophet, I will not describe it here. 
For our immediate purpose it is necessary only to call 
attention to the remarkable fact that in Islam we have 
a movement energized by prodigious spiritual powers 
of evil, a satanic caricature of the Kingdom of God, 
being led by a false prophet and based upon a false 
Bible (the Koran) and seeking (almost with success) 
to gain the sovereignty of the world. 

The third and last of these adversaries of Chris- 
tianity is Romanism. Here again we have identically 
the same distinguishing features that characterized the 
other two, and marked them plainly as the adversaries 
of the Kingdom of God: that is to say, this system also 
is religious in character, binding its adherents together 
by that which has ever been the strongest of all ties— 





306 The Patmos Vistons 


religion,—but its aim is political, the same precisely as 
that of the other two, namely to gain supreme 
authority over the nations of the earth. Judaism bases 
its claim to supremacy over the nations upon its mis- 
interpretation of the prophets. Mohammedanism also 
claims a God-given right to rule the world, basing its 
claim upon the Koran and the pretensions of the false 
prophet. Romanism is, in this respect, the most subtle 
and deceptive of all, for its claim to supreme govern- 
mental authority is based upon the blasphemous pre- 
tension that its head, the pope, is the “‘vicar of Christ’. 

Such being the general state of things during this 
Christian era, it is certain that, if the design of the 
trumpet series of visions was to reveal to the servants 
of Christ the great adversaries that were to arise in 
direct opposition to the purpose of God in this age, 
then we shall find therein the symbolic representations 
of just three, no more and no less, great and mighty 
systems religious in character, and having each the 
single political aim of subjugating the world. And on 
the other hand, if upon careful study of the symbols of 
the trumpet series we find them such as may be clearly 
explained by reference to the three systems that have 
contested the field of the world (Matt. 13:38) with 
the soldiers of the cross, then we are fully warranted in 
concluding that it was the design of those visions to 
reveal the rise, the development and end of those great 
adversaries of the Kingdom of God. 

One difference between the last of these systems 
(Romanism) and the other two calls for special notice. 





The Trumpet Series 307 


Both Judaism and Mohammedanism have been from 
the very first the open enemies of Christianity. There- 
fore they are shown in the trumpet visions as openly 
opposed to God and His saints. But Romanism arose 
not from without but from within the pale of professed 
Christianity. It has set itself forth not as the adver- 
sary of the Kingdom of God, but on the contrary as 
being the true realization and embodiment thereof. 
Hence it is not displayed openly in its real character 
as the enemy of God and the opposer of His purposes, 
but is unveiled as a “‘mystery’’ in the days of the seventh 
trumpet, where it is shown by a special vision as devel- 
oping out of, and in close political association with 
the Roman Empire, the political frame-work of which 
was perpetuated and subordinated to its purposes. But 
this can best be considered when we come to Chapter 
XIII. For the gradual transformation of Imperial 
Rome into Papal Rome has been a marvel of history 
greater and more mysterious even than the rise and 
career of Mohammedanism. 

It is a matter of deep significance that each of these 
three great systems has manifested unwonted activity 
in and subsequent to the great war of 1914-1918. For 
while the political doings of the Jews in connection with 
the finances of the great nations are studiously con- 
cealed, so far as possible, nevertheless the “‘invisible 
hand” does sometimes show itself on the surface of 
affairs; and moreover, the vitality of Zionism, and 
the progress made in a very brief time towards con- 
verting Palestine into a national home for the Jews, 





308 The Patmos Visions 


are among the most significant of the happenings of 
these days. Students of prophecy are watching these 
developments with intense interest, some with expecta- 
tions (such as that the Temple will be rebuilt, animal 
sacrifices resumed, etc.) which to my mind are without 
support in the Scriptures. But there is in the Word of 
God the clear promise that ‘‘all Israel shall be saved”’ 
(Rom. 11:26); and that those words refer to the 
natural, not to the spiritual Israel, appears from the 
context, where reference is made to the power of God 
to “graff them in again into their own olive tree’’ (vv. 
23, 24). 

Mohammedanism too has had a wonderful recrud- 
escence, notwithstanding the seeming death-wound to 
the Ottoman Empire in the great war. The marvel- 
lous recovery under the régime of the Young Turks, the 
stirrings in India, Egypt and elsewhere, and the dread 
possibilities of concerted action by the dark-skinned 
races against the nations of western Europe (‘‘the 
Christian nations’’, so called) are not the least among 
the anxieties of the heads of governments in these per- 
plexing times. (See the last chapter of this book.) 

Finally, as to the activities and gains of the Papacy, 
in the field of world-politics, as well as in that of reli- 
gion (where it is taking full advantage of the dis- 
integration of the Protestant denominations under the 
canker of Modernism) it is needless to speak. And 
indeed it would require a volume to tell the full story. 
Enough that the anointed eye can see that these three 
mighty systems of evil, the agencies of the mighty 








The Trumpet Series 309 





prince of this world, are all ready for instant action 
when the blast of the seventh trumpet shall announce 
the hour for the last fatal conflict; in which, neverthe- 
less, all that opposes the kingdom of our God and the 
power of His Christ shall be finally and completely 
overthrown. 

I venture to suggest, in this connection, that it may 
turn out to be a very significant fact that, in the little 
country of Judea, these three great systems are even 
now in touch with one another, and with results that 
hint at the most serious consequences. For the Mo- 
hammedan Arabs are violently opposed to the re-occu- 
pation of Palestine by the Jews; and the Papacy has 
uttered its protest against the ‘‘desecration of the holy 
places” by Jewish occupancy. So here is a situation 
that is pregnant with great possibilities. For out of it 
may easily spring events that will set those mighty 
forces into operation, whereby the mystery of God 
shall be finished, His enemies be overwhelmed, and the 
kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of 
our Lord and of His Christ. 


THe FirrH TRUMPET 


There is a pause after the sounding of the fourth 
trumpet and the action 1s interrupted at that point by 
the vision of an angel (or, as the best manuscripts have 
it, an eagle) flying through the midst of heaven, saying 
with a loud voice, ‘‘Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters 
of earth, by reason of the other voices of the trumpet 





310 The Patmos Visions 


of the three angels, which are yet to sound!” (Rev. 
S13): 

This vision of the flying eagle serves not only to pre- 
pare us for events of a yet more calamitous nature than 
those previously revealed, but also to set off the first 
four trumpets in a distinct group from the rest; and 
this tends further to confirm the view that the events 
pictured in that group are both closely related to each 
other, and are also separated by a substantial interval 
of time, possibly quite a long one, from the events now 
to be pictured at “the voices of the trumpet of the 
three angels that are yet to sound”. 


“And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from 
heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the 
bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there 
arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; 
and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke 
of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the 
earth: and to them was given power, as the scorpions of the 
earth have power. And it was commanded them that they 
should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, 
neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of 
God in their foreheads. And to them it was given that they 
should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five 
months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, 
when he striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek 
death and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death 
shall flee from them. And the shapes of the locusts were like 
unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it 
were crowns of gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. 
And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were 
as the teeth of lions. And they had breastplates as it were 
breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the 
sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. And they 





The Trumpet Series 311 


had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: 
and their power was to hurt men five months. And they had a 
king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose 
name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek 
tongue hath his name, Apollyon”’ (9:1-11). 


The era of the fifth trumpet is manifestly one of 
relatively great importance for the purposes of the 
Book we are studying. ‘This appears from the space 
given to it, and from the character of the symbols. It 
seems also that the era here foretold (“those days” 
v. 6) is one of considerable length; for it is described 
as a period of torment to last, as time is measured in 
this Book, for a period of “five months” (vv. 5, 10), 
five being a number of incompleteness, showing, as did 
the phrase ‘‘a third part” under the preceding trumpets, 
that the plague, though great and prolonged, was not 
complete and final. It required twice five plagues to 
complete God’s judgment upon Egypt. 

The first action that immediately follows the sound- 
ing of the trumpet is the fall of a star from heaven to 
earth. ‘That this star represents a mighty spirit-being 
is clear from what has been already explained; and this 
is confirmed by the next words: ‘‘And to him’’—evi- 
dently a person—‘‘was given the key of the bottomless 
pit. And he opened the bottomless pit”. None but a 
mighty spirit could do that. 

This spirit-being is, however, of lesser dignity than 
the one that fell from heaven at the sounding of the 
third trumpet; for that one is described as “‘a great 
star, burning as a lamp”’. 





312 The Patmos Visions 


Out of the pit arose dense smoke, as the smoke of a 
great furnace. This recalls one of the signs that are 
to precede the great and terrible day of the Lord, 
namely, “pillars (or columns) of smoke’”’ (Joel 2:30). 
Clearly this smoke is spiritual. It affects ‘“‘the sun”’ 
(the power of government) and “the air’ (the spir- 
itual realm). And there came out of the smoke lo- 
custs; and to them was given power, as the scorpions 
of the earth have power. All these and other symbols 
and figures supply us with clues to the meaning of the 
vision. One other feature will be noted at this pre- 
liminary stage of our inquiry. It is found in the last 
statement in the passage, namely, that these “‘locusts”’ 
have a king over them, which is the angel of the 
bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew and in Greek 
signifies ‘‘Destroyer’’. ‘Thus it is plainly stated that 
this great host of locusts is ruled by an invisible king, 
a mighty one among the evil spirits. 

In Joel the armies of Assyria which were to overrun 
the land of Israel were figured as locusts; and there 
too, as in the passage before us, it was said, “The 
appearance of them is as the appearance of horsemen” 
(Joel 2:4). So it is plain that the locusts are con- 
quering armies, sweeping over the earth in dense ranks. 
Furthermore, from Daniel 10:13, 20, it appears that 
the great empires of earth have each a presiding angel 
over them; so that we have warrant for the view that 
the vision we are studying pictures the coming upon 
the scene of a mighty nation, which was to have a 
supernatural origin, rising up mysteriously out of some 


+ 








The Trumpet Series H21R 


obscure region, and which was to pursue a career of 


conquest, pouring over the earth in dense armies, com- 
posed largely of horsemen; a nation that was to have 
over them a spiritual head whose name signifies “‘a 
destroyer’. 

But this conquering people was to be unlike the 
Assyrians, the “‘locusts’’ of Joel’s vision, in that it was 
to have spiritual power, as well as, and more promi- 
nently than, physical power. ‘The repeated reference 
to ‘“‘scorpions” (vv. 3, 5, 10) emphasizes this. More- 
over, the statement of verse 10 is illuminating: “And 
they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were 
stings in their tails’. ‘This may be read in the light of 
Isaiah 9:15 as indicating the deadly power of faise 
prophecy, or some special form of destructive false- 
hood. For according to that Scripture “the prophet 
that teacheth lies, he is the tail’. 

Briefly then, the various symbols here presented to 
our view all point, and in no uncertain way, to that 
marvel of history, the empire founded by the false 
prophet, Mohammed, an empire of vast dimensions 
that was established and extended through an un- 
precedented combination of stupendous military forces 
and mighty spiritual energies; in which latter was the 
secret of its amazing potency. 

For Islam is a mystery. of the darkest character. It 
defies explanation on any natural basis. Its origin is 
so utterly unlike that of all the other empires as to 
leave no alternative but the view that it originated 
supernaturally; and its career is just as difficult to ex- 


fem. ue same ec SR TNE TED OTT BOTS DT SB SOT TE PDT SERED DE DTS ELLE TEESE TTS 
314 The Patmos Visions 


plain upon natural grounds as its origin. It is mani- 
festly a designed counterpart of Christianity; for its 
visible source was in a personal leader, who claims to 
be the sole representative and prophet of God, and in 
a book, that is venerated by its adherents as the word 
of God. It has, moreover, the supernatural power to 
inspire multitudes, even of stern, fierce and blood- 
thirsty men, with a most extraordinary degree of re- 
ligious fanaticism, rising at times to the pitch of frenzy. 
In this particular it is without any parallel in the his- 
tory of mankind. | 
The foregoing facts are matters of common knowl- 
edge. Keeping them in mind while studying the visions 
of Chapter 9, two conclusions force themselves upon 
me: first, that the symbols of that chapter correspond 
with remarkable exactness to the outstanding features 
of Islamism; and second, that there is nothing else in 
the whole range of human observation that in anywise 
answers to those symbols. Indeed the history of Islam 
is sO unique, so manifestly supernatural, and corres- 
ponds, moreover, so exactly with the symbols of these 
visions (fifth and six trumpets) that able expositors 
of the futurist school fully admit the close agreement 
between them; and some of them go so far as to sug- 
gest that, in Mohammedanism, these visions have a 
‘‘germinant’’, or anticipatory, fulfilment. Thus it is 
stated by one of the ablest of that school that: 
‘““Mohammedanism has a superman and a book. It is a 


satanic imitation of Christianity. It has spread over a great 
part of the christianized world. At this time it embraces in its 





The Trumpet Sertes eats 


curse over 200 millions of souls. Its founder was, without 
doubt, devil inspired. Mohammed, the fallen star*, opened the 
pit and let loose the darkening power of Satan; and he flooded 
the eastern part of the christianized earth, and considerable 
portions of the western also, with doctrines which can justly be 
termed hellish in their nature and effects’. 


In other words, the facts of Islamism agree exactly 
with the meaning of the symbols shown in these 
visions. What conclusion then must we draw? ‘The 
fulfilment of a prophecy is proved, and the divine 
character of the latter is established, by the coming to 
pass of the thing prophesied. What then is the posi- 
tion of those who, like the writer just quoted, recognize 
and admit that the things here prophesied have mani- 
festly come to pass, yet refuse to accept them as the 
fulfilment of the prophecy? 

One extraordinary fact in the history of Islam calls 
for special notice because, to my mind, it lends strong 
support to the view herein adopted. ‘That fact is that 
its career has been in two distinct stages. Its rise was 
in the Saracenic form, and is dated from the ‘‘Hegira”’ 
(the flight of Mahomet) in A. D. 622. The Caliph 
Omar led his conquering armies of Saracens into 
Syria in 632; the Roman armies were annihilated; and 
in 637 Jerusalem was captured. But the spread of 
Mohammedanism was arrested by Charles Martel at 
the Battle of Tours, A. D. 732, after which ensued a 
long period of stagnation. But it had a marvellous 
recrudescence, under the ferocious Ottoman Turks. 





*I think it more accurate to say he was energized by the evil spirit, Abad- 
don, whom the fallen star symbolizes. 








316 The Patmos Visions 


These, strangely enough, were not Mohammedans at 
all, but began their conquering career against the Mo- 
hammedans. Later, however, for political advantage, 
they formally embraced Mohammedanism, much as the 
emperor Constantine had formally embraced Chris- 
tianity, and in A. D. 1076, Jerusalem was captured by 
the Turks, and an era of cruel oppression was begun, 
“which filled all Christendom with sorrow and indigna- 
tion” (Green’s Church History). ‘This led to the 
Crusades. 

In marked agreement with this division of the 
career of Islam is the two-fold picture presented by the 
fifth and sixth trumpet visions, which are connected 
closely together, while being separated from the pre- 
ceding group of four trumpets, and also from the 
seventh which stands by itself. | 

Turning now to the details of the vision of the fifth 
trumpet, enough has been said concerning the star, the 
darkening of the sun and air by the dense smoke from 
the pit, and the locusts with their scorpion-like tails. 
But further concerning the abyss, or bottomless pit, it 
may be remarked that the abyss appears in the N. T. 
as the abode of the demons, the source of the evil 
spiritual agencies that exercise their influence upon 
men. ‘This is made evident, for example, by the desire 
of the wicked spirits whom the Lord cast out of the 
man dwelling in the tombs, that He should not com- 
mand them to depart into the abyss (Luke 8:31). 

From verse 4 of Revelation 9 we learn that protec- 
tion was to be given, during the time of this plague, 





The Trumpet Series 317 


to the true people of God; for it was to fall only upon 
“those men who have not the seal of God upon their 
foreheads”. Here again is seen the efficacy of the 
prayers of the saints, sent up to the throne of God by 
Christ as the Minister of the heavenly sanctuary. 
Verse 7 states that the shapes of the locusts were like 
“horses prepared unto battle”. In Judges 6:5 we read 
that the children of the east came up like locusts (not 
“grasshoppers” ) for multitude; and in Jeremiah 46: 
23, God speaks of the armies that were to overwhelm 
Egypt, saying that “they are more than the locusts, 
and are innumerable’. ‘Thus we learn that the term 
locusts signifies armies of immense numbers. ‘The 
words “horses prepared unto battle” point to the readi- 
ness, fearlessness, and swiftness of those armies in 
making war. That they wore crowns marks them as 
a sovereign people, distinguishing them from the mer- 
cenary armies of Rome. Further it is said they had 
faces like those of men, and hair as the hair of women. 
Thus they represent a virile people, notwithstanding 
the long hair, which in Bible times was the mark of a 
barbaric people (see 1 Cor. 11:14, 15). The breast- 
plate (or coats of mail) speak of their preparedness 
for battle, and the reference to “horses” again in verse 
9, testifies anew of their eagerness to engage therein. 
In regard to the long hair, Hengstenberg’s comment 
is also illuminating: ‘‘One who permits anything on his 
body to grow as it will, virtually makes himself known 
as one who gives free scope to his lusts and passions, 
who will allow no hindrance to his natural desires’’. 


| aera ee SENN RRR ATA EEE TTT ITO ETE TTP AN RT AOTETTRRES SPE RY PORNO EASE RETO ETERS NE 
318 The Patmos Visions 


This seems to point clearly to one of the most con- 
spicuous features of the Mohammedan religion, that 
which allowed in this life unrestrained indulgence of 
the animal passions of men (to the great degradation 
of womankind), and which promised in paradise the 
most unlimited delights of sensuousness. It was in 
order to subdue men, that appeal was made to what is 
basest in the nature of man. This is grossly de- 
moniacal. 

Verse 12 reads: ‘“‘One woe is past; and behold there 
come two woes more hereafter’. This puts a definite 
end to the spread of this plague, corresponding with 
which is the fact that Mohammedanism in its Saracenic 
form was definitely arrested at the Battle of Tours, 
and turned back; and this abatement lasted for a per- 
iod of centuries. 

This verse also recalls the thrice-repeated ‘‘Woe’”’ of 
8:13, reminding us of the specially calamitous nature 
of the scourges that are symbolized under the last 
three trumpets. 

Grattan Guinness remarks that ‘‘Mohammedanism 
is one of those great movements which have impressed 
a new and lasting character upon a vast number of 
the nations of the world. No power known to history 
has ever wielded the sceptre over a wider sphere than 
this has done’. And the historian Gibbon (Decline 
and Fall of the Roman Empire) remarks concerning 
the successors of Mahomet :— 


“They reigned by right of conquest over the nations of the 
East, to whom the name of liberty was unknown, and who 








The Trumpet Sertes 319 


“were accustomed to applaud in their tyrants the acts of violence 

and severity that were performed at their own expense. Under 
the last of the Ommiades the Arabian empire extended two 
hundred days’ journey from east to west, from the confines of 
Tartary and India, to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean’”’. 


It is not, however, because of the amazing spread 
of Islam in so short a time, or because of the absolute 
and tyrannical character of its rule, that place is given 
it in these visions of God. Rather is it because by it 
the judgment of God was executed upon those parts 
of the earth which had been illuminated by the gospel 
from its beginning, but which had turned that heavenly 
light into a darkness worse than that of Paganism, and 
of which it might well be exclaimed in the words of 
Christ, ““How great is that darkness!’’ (Mat. 6:23). 
For, in the words of Dr. Green, ‘‘It is needful to re- 
member the character of that ‘Christianity’ which 
called Mahomet and his followers to arms’’; thereof 
he quotes the following description by Isaac Taylor :— 


“What Mahomet and his caliphs found in all directions 
whither their scimitars cut a path for them, was a superstition 
so abject, an idolatry so gross and shameless, church doctrines 
so arrogant, church practices so dissolute and so puerile, that the 
strong-minded Arabians felt themselves inspired as God’s mes- 
sengers to reprove the errors of the world, and authorized as 
God’s avengers to punish apostate Christendom”. 


For it must be remembered that God’s judgment 
upon those who have not received the love of the truth, 
when it has been presented to them in the gospel of 
His grace, is first of all to give them over to a “‘strong 
delusion, that they should believe the lie’ (2 Thess. 





320 The Patmos Visions 


2:10, 11; see also Rom. 1:25-28). And this, I believe, 
is what is just now coming to pass in our own day in 
these who, having ‘‘received not the love of the truth 
that they might be saved’’, although they have all their 
lives been within the reach and influence thereof, are 
now being given over to the “strong delusion” of the 
evolutionary theory, whereof the foul and degrading 
doctrine of the ape-ancestry of man is the central 
feature. 


THE SIixtTH TRUMPET 


“And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the 
four horns of the golden altar which is before God, saying to 
the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels 
which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four 
angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, 
and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. And 
the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred 
thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. And 
thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, 
having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and 
the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions: and out of 
their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these 
three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by smoke, 
and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. For 
their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails 
were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do 
hurt. And the rest of the men which were not killed by these 
plagues, yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they 
should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and 
brass, and stone, and of wood; which neither can see, nor hear, 
nor walk: neither repented they of their murders, nor of their 
sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts’ (9:13- 


21). 


The origin of this ‘“‘woe”’ was in the region beyond 








The Trumpet Series 321 


the great river Euphrates’. It was from that quarter 
of the world that the Turks made their appearance, and 
even until now there is a mystery as to the precise part 
of the East from which they came. 

I have already referred, as corresponding to this 
vision, to the astonishing revival of Islamism after 
centuries of stagnation, resulting in the Ottoman 
Empire, which has continued to our own time to be 
the inveterate foe of the gospel, and a curse to all the 
nations that have been blessed, in the character of their 
civilization, from the gospel’s beneficent influences. 

Briefly, the important facts concerning the Ottoman 
Empire are these: 


“The Ottoman Turks came originally from the region of the 
Altai mountains in Central Asia. . . . In the 13th century 
they appeared as the allies of the Seljukian Turks against the 
Mongols, and for their aid received a grant of lands from the 
sultan of Iconium, in Asia Minor. Their leader, Othman, 
became the most powerful Emir in Western Asia. In the year 
1300 he proclaimed himself Sultan. Thus was founded the 
Empire of the Osman or Ottoman Turks in Asia. Osman’s 
successors, princes of great courage and enterprise, who were 
animated moreover by religious fanaticism, and a passion for 
military glory, raised it to the rank of the first military power in 
both Europe and Asia (1300-1566). In the reign of Soliman 
II, the Magnificent, 1519-1566, the Ottoman Empire reached 
the highest pitch of power and splendor. From his time the 
race of Osman degenerated, and the power of the Porte has 
declined” (The Standard Dictionary of Facts). 


To this I would add that Constantinople was taken 
by the Turks in 1453, which date is marked in history 
as the last end of the old Roman Empire. 





222 The Patmos Visions 


Returning now to our chapter, from verse 15 it 
appears that the destroying angels had been already in 
preparation for a certain period of time, but were held 
in restraint. ‘This is according to the revealed ways of 
God. His judgment upon the Amorites was delayed 
for four generations, because their iniquity was ‘“‘not 
yet full” (Gen. 15:16). And so to the end; for even 
now He is holding back the day of Judgment (though 
men scoff at His warnings) because “‘the long suffering 
of our God is salvation’’, and because He is “‘not willing 
that any should perish, but that all should come to 
repentance” (2 Pet. 3:3, 4, 9, 15). Concerning the 
specified period of preparation, ‘‘an hour, and a day 
and a month, and a year’’, Bossuet remarks that, ‘““The 
time being so exactly marked by the prophet, lets us 
see how exactly God determines the periods”’. 

The number of the armies was myriads of myriads, 
a number so great that it could not have been com- 
puted. John says, ‘And I heard the number of them,”’ 
else he could not have known it. 

The description of verses 17-19 puts before us the 
conquering power of lions, the swiftness and fearless- 
ness of horses, the destructive agencies of fire, smoke, 
and brimstone (whereby “‘the third part of men’’ were 
killed), and the poison of serpents in their tails. This 
is so largely a repetition of the symbols of the fifth 
trumpet as to assure us that the same people are again 
brought to view, but with differences which indicate 
that the identity is not complete. This judgment was 
not to be final, for it was to affect fatally only ‘“‘a third 


_ 
The Trumpet Sertes a8 


part”. Bengel aptly remarks upon this removal of a 
third part by death: 


“In the present day also there is a great corruption among 
unbelievers and nominal christians, in all parts of Christendom, 
and in all conditions of men; but if we could see what in former 
times has been taken away, we should find that God has con- 
tinually saved out of the corrupt mass a good portion to remain 
for seed. “Those portions that have been extirpated have been 
for the most part a bad commodity. . . . It is therefore neces- 
sary for the holy angels to blow with their trumpets, that men 
may learn to fear the Lord, and not be forever contending 
against Him”. 

Verses, 20, 21 show that this woe had a remedial 
object, that it was a call to repentance to “the rest of 
the men that were not killed by these plagues’. But 
they profited not by the warning; for it is twice stated 
that they “‘repented not”. And to this agrees the voice 
of history, which shows that the nations which suffered 
under the Saracenic and Ottoman scourges did not re- 
pent of their evil works, their idolatries and their worse 
than Pagan practices. We may well compare with this 
the hardness of heart manifested by Pharaoh and the 
Egyptians of old; and recall the words of the prophet: 
“For the people turneth not unto Him that smiteth 
them, neither do they seek the Lord of hosts” (Isa. 
9 13)). 


CHAPTER VII 


The Mighty Angel With the Little Book 


“And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, 
clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head. And 
his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: 
and he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right 
foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth, and cried with 
a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, 
seven thunders uttered their voices. And when the seven thun- 
ders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard 
a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which 
the seven thunders uttered, and write them not. And the angel 
which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up 
his hand to heaven, and sware by Him that liveth for ever and 
ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and 
the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the 
things which are therein, that there should be time no longer: | 
but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall 
begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he 
hath declared to His servants the prophets’ (10:1-17). 


HIS vision belongs to the period of the sixth 

trumpet, as appears by two facts: (1) the end- 

ing of the period of the sixth trumpet is plainly 
marked by the words of Chapter 11:14, “The second 
woe is past; behold, the third woe cometh quickly”; 
(2) the Angel of this vision speaks of “the days of the 
voice of the seventh angel when he shall begin to 
sound’, as being future at that time, which makes it 
certain that this vision was in the era of the sixth 
trumpet. It is important to note this. 


324 


The Mighty Angel With the Little Book 325 


This mighty Angel is a symbolical representation of 
Christ Himself. For everything that is said to char- 
acterize this Angel pertains only to Deity. Further- 
more, the actions of the Angel belong only to Christ. 
“The planting of the right foot on the sea, and the 
other on the earth, as certainly belongs to Christ alone, 
as it is to Him and not to any angel that God has put 
in subjection the world to come (Heb. 2:5)”. So 
comments Dr. Hengstenberg; and Vitringa asks: 
‘Does the hope of God’s people rest on the oath of a 
created angel? Is it the part of a created angel to 
swear that the words of prophecy and promise shall be 
fulfilled? Surely if their hope is to stand unmoved, it 
can be sustained only by the faithfulness and oath of 
that very Person to whose nature failure is not an in- 
cident. Wherefore, God swears by Himself, when His 
purpose is to show to the heirs of the promise, the im- 
mutability of His counsel’? (Heb. 6:7) 

The appearance of this Angel, the stand that He 
takes, and particularly the words of the oath that He 
swears, testify impressively to the transcendent im- 
portance of what is to happen in the days of the voice 
of the seventh angel. 

In His hand was a “little book open”. These words 
suggest a comparison with the (relatively great) book 
of Chapter 5:1, which was completely sealed; and they 
lead to the conclusion that the “‘little book” contains | 
some special part of the counsel of God, which Christ, 
the One who is invested with supreme authority, is 
responsible to carry into effect. In agreement with this 


326 | The Patmos Visions 


idea are two facts that are declared in the immediate 
context; (1) John, having eaten the little book, is 
told that he must prophesy again: and (2) there now 
comes into view another sphere, different from that of 
the preceding visions, namely, the sphere that is sym- 
bolized by “the temple of God’. The other scenes 
had to do with the world and the nations at large; and 
in viewing them, the question would arise in our minds, 
how does it fare in those times with the people of God? 
This question finds an answer in Chapter 11:1-13; and 
it will be clearly seen, upon comparison of the conclud- 
ing verses of Chapter 9 (‘‘and the rest of the men re- 
pented not’’) with verses 13 of Chapter 11, (‘‘and the 
rest were affrighted and gave glory to the God of 
heaven’), that the two scenes are parallel as to time, 
differing, however, as to the theaters in which they 
severally take place. 

This arrangement, moreover, is the same as that of 
the seals. For there also, after the vision of the sixth 
seal, the action along the line of happenings in the 
world at large is arrested, in order that it may be seen, 
by a separate vision (Chapter VII), how it fares with 
the Israel of God in the era of the preceding visions. 
Correspondences of this sort, of which there are many, 
bear witness to the methodical plan upon which the 
Book as a whole is constructed. 

The first item of description of this mighty Angel 
is that He is “‘clothed with a cloud’’, and this indicates 
the character of the mission on which He is come. For 
as Bengel remarks: “In such appearances we must keep 








The Mighty Angel With the Little Book 327 


the attire, and the word spoken, in connection with each 
other. Thus the attire of Christ in Chapter I, and 
what He at that time caused John to write to the 
churches, throw light mutually upon each other’. The 
cloud, then, conveys a threat against some whom this 
vision concerns; and the seven thunders mentioned in 
verse 3 tend to give it the character of a thunder-cloud. 
But the very next descriptive item is such as to remove 
all fear from the hearts of those who are truly His. 
For we read, “and a rainbow upon His head”, which 
is the faithful witness of covenant mercy and protection 
to His own in the business He is about to undertake. 
That business, as clearly appears from Chapter XI, 
is that of the separation of those who are really His 
own from the mass of professed disciples. 

The planting of the feet, which are likened to pillars 
of fire, one on the sea (the masses of peoples and na- 
tions in general), and one on the earth (the more 
stable parts of the world), signifies the world-wide 
scope of His present business, and also the immovable 
steadfastness of His purpose to accomplish it. So this 
is a matter of great and peculiar interest to all who 
share the writer’s opinion that we are just on the eve 
of the sounding of the seventh trumpet. 

It is further said of the Angel that He ‘“‘cried with 
a loud voice, as when a lion roareth’’; and that ‘‘when 
He had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices’’. 
This recalls Hosea 11:10, where it is prophesied that 
the Lord shall “roar like a lion” on behalf of His own 





328 The Patmos Visions 


people against their enemies. Also Joel 3:16, where, 
in foretelling the great day of wrath, the prophet says: 
‘The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter His 
voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth 
shall shake; but the Lord shall be the hope (lit. a place 
of refuge) for His people’. The loud voice, as a 
lion’s, declares the importance of that which is about 
to happen, and the certainty that it will take place 
without further delay. 

The note of threatening in the loud voice is taken 
up and emphasized by the seven thunders that imme- 
diately uttered their voices. The number seven is the 
signature of the completeness of the threats uttered by 
the thunders. John, however, was commanded by a 
voice from heaven to “‘seal up those things which the 
thunders uttered, and write them not”. This tells us 
that, however interesting the matters uttered by those 
voices, they must not be permitted to divert our atten- 
tion from what the Angel Himself is about to do and 
say. ‘That is the supremely important matter. For, 
with a sublime gesture, extending His hand heaven- 
ward, He swore “by Him that liveth for ever and 
ever, who created heaven and the things that therein 
are, and the earth and the things that therein are, 
and the sea and the things which are therein, that there 
should be time (i. e., delay) no longer; but in the days 
of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin 
to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as‘He 





The Mighty Angel With the Little Book 329 


hath declared (lit. preached the glad tidings) to His 
servants the prophets’. No words of man could add 
to the impressiveness of this utterance, whereby, from 
the lips of the Lord Himself, backed by the force of a 
tremendous oath, the greatest of all events yet to hap- 
pen in the universe of God is announced. 

‘The mystery of God”’ in this case is the mystery of 
His long delay to exercise His sovereign rights and au- 
thority against the principalities and powers of dark- 
ness, and against the rebel governments of this world, 
who have spurned the advice given in the Second 
Psalm to the kings and rulers of the earth to ‘‘Kiss the 
Son lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, 
when suddenly His wrath is kindled” (Jewish Ver.). 
The day of wrath is in view for them, but the rainbow 
clearly appears in the next words of the Psalm, 
‘Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him’. 
The nature of this “mystery of God’ comes clearly 
into view in the vision of the beast that came up out 
of the sea, which received a death-stroke and yet lived 
and triumphed thereafter over the saints of God. 

The words uttered by the great voices in heaven at 
the blowing of the seventh trumpet (11:15), and 
those of the elders (11:17), also help to make it clear 
that it is the mystery of the Kingdom of God men- 
tioned above that is referred to in the oath of the 
mighty Angel. 





330 The Patmos Visions 


This closes the incident of the Angel’s announce- 
ment. And now John hears again the voice from 
heaven that had bidden him seal up the things uttered 
by the seven thunders, the command being, “Go and 
take the little book which is open in the hand of the 
Angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth”. 
The record continues: 


“And I went unto the Angel and said unto him, Give me the 
little book. And He said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and 
it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet 
as honey. And I took the little book out of the Angel’s hand 
and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey; and as 
soon as | had eaten it, my belly was bitter. And He said unto 
me, Thou must prophesy again before (or as to, lit. upon) 
peoples, and nations, and tongues, and Se: many” (Bagster’s 
Interlinear Ver.). 


The general significance of this incident may be 
learned from the like event described in Ezekiel. The 
prophet was commanded to carry a message to the 
rebellious house of Israel; and in that connection he 
heard the words, “Open thy mouth and eat that I give 
thee” (Ezek. 2:8). Thereupon he looked and saw a 
hand extended toward him, and in it the roll of a book, 
wherein were written “lamentations, and mourning, 
and woe’. ‘Then he heard the command, ‘‘Eat this 
roll and go speak to the house of Israel’. And the 
prophet says, “Then I did eat it; and it was in my 
mouth as honey for sweetness’. Ezekiel was to speak 
against Jerusalem and the temple; and the fact that in 
John’s vision the city and temple appear (as symbols, 
of course) connects the two visions closely together. 


The Mighty Angel With the Little Book 331 


John, in order to qualify him for the commission 
now given him, must take the words of God into his 
inmost being (cf. Jer. 15:16). Upon so doing he 
found them, because of their nature, to be bitter and 
distressing. Nevertheless, to the true servant of God 
every word of His is sweet to the taste. Upon this 
Hengstenberg says: 


‘‘What is here said to the prophet is in substance applicable 
to all believers, and especially to those who teach the Word. 
Their place in the Kingdom of God will be measured by their 
fidelity in complying with this admonition. We too must eat 
and even swallow it; not some choice portion of it, but the 
whole; not that alone which is agreeable to ourselves, like those 
who separate the gospel from the law, but that also which may 
occasion us the deepest pain’. 


The reason for John’s inward pain upon apprehend- 
ing the purport of what was in the little book, may be 
learned from what immediately follows in Chapter 11: 
1-12, where the symbols declare how John carried out 
the command given him to prophesy upon (or concern- 
ing) peoples, and nations and tongues and many kings. 
For the vision involves all who, in the last days, are 
connected with what is figured by the temple of God, 
whether really, or merely nominally. For I take it the 
leading thought in the first part of Chapter XI is the 
final separation in Christendom of the real from the 
unreal. ‘This will appear in what follows; and that it 
is a matter of the highest consequence to ourselves, is 
manifest. 








BRe The Patmos Visions 


THE MEASURING OF THE TEMPLE 


“And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the 
angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and 
the altar, and them that worship therein. But the court which 
is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is 
given unto the Gentiles; and the holy city shall they tread under 
foot forty and two months. And I will give power unto My 
two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred 
and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. “These are the two 
olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God 
of the earth. And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth 
out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any 
man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. “These 
have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their 
prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, 
and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will” 


(11:1-6). 


The portion of the Old Testament to which this 
vision specially relates, and by which it is to be inter- 
preted, is Zechariah, Chapter II, where the prophet 
saw a man with a measuring-line, who, when asked, 
“Whither goes thou?” replied, “To measure Jeru- 
salem, to see what is the breadth thereof, and what 
is the length thereof”. The significance of this, accord- 
ing to the verses that follow, was that Jerusalem was 
to be inhabited again with a great multitude; that the 
Lord Himself would be to her a protecting wall of fire 
round about her, and be the glory in the midst of her; 
that His people (Zion) should be separated from all 
that were not His (Babylon); that He would ‘“‘dwell 
in the midst” of her, and would ‘inherit Judah His 





The Mighty Angel With the Little Book 333 


portion in the holy land’’, and would ‘“‘choose Jerusalem 
again’. 

From this it is clear that the vision of Revelation 
XI looks forward to the great consummation of all 
God’s work in redemption, as pictured in the vision of 
the New Jerusalem, Chapters XXI, XXII, whose 
length, and breadth, and height are given; the city that 
is lightened by the glory of God’s presence, and where 
He dwells in the midst of His redeemed people. This 
is what comes finally into view after all that is opposed 
to God (great Babylon) shall have been destroyed. 

The correspondence between the two visions is very 
close. For where in Zechariah it is said, “And many 
nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and 
shall be My people’, we have the corresponding state- 
ment in Revelation 21:24, ‘“‘And the nations of them 
which are saved shall walk in the light of it; and the 
kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour 
into it’’. 

Further in explanation of Zechariah’s vision we have 
the words of the Lord recorded in Chapter 1:16, “I 
am returned to Jerusalem with mercies, My house shall 
be built in it, and a line shall be stretched forth upon 
Jerusalem”. This word of the Lord came in answer 
to the cry, ““O Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not 
have mercy on Jerusalem?” (vy. 12). 

Answering to this. in Revelation we have the oath 
of the Angel that there should be delay no longer; 
while the rainbow encircling His head is the beautiful 
pledge that He is returned to His people (Jerusalem) 





394.) The Patmos Visions 


“with mercies”, notwithstanding that He comes man- 
tled with the threatening cloud of judgment, and with 
the awe-inspiring voices of the seven thunders. 

This will suffice to show clearly the general purport 
of the vision now before us; and particularly it tells 
us that when something is symbolically measured, we 
are to understand that it is being made ready for 
God’s occupation and use. 

This is confirmed by the vision of Ezekiel 40:2, 
where the prophet was given to see the frame of a city, 
and a man with a measuring reed, with which he pro- 
ceeded to measure the breadth and height of the build- 
ing. This vision the seer was commanded to declare 
to the house of Israel (v. 4). 

What corresponds to the subject of this vision in the 
New Testament is most fully set forth in the Epistle 
to the Ephesians, where we read that all who are saved 
by faith in Jesus Christ, whethér by nature they were 
Jews or Gentiles, constitute one ‘‘household of faith’, 
and are being “built upon the foundation of the 
apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the 
chief corner stone; in whom the whole building, fitly 
framed together, groweth unto AN HOLY TEMPLE in 
the Lord: in whom ye also are (being) builded to- 
gether for an habitation of God through the Spirit’ 
(Eph. 2:19-22). It is with regard to this dwelling- 
place of God, this holy temple now being builded by 
the Holy Spirit, that the apostle prays for us all who 
have part and place therein, that we might “be able 
to comprehend, with all saints, what is the breadth, 


| Sa SS ST TT EE SSSI PEE SE EE ET IE TEC ROT TES RE TEESE 


The Mighty Angel With the Little Book 335 


and length, and depth, and height’ thereof (3:18). 
And it should be observed that in the context we have 
‘the commonwealth of Israel’? and “‘the covenants of 
promise” (2:12), into which the saved from among 
the Gentiles are now being brought, they being ‘“‘no 
more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with 
the saints, and of the household of God” (2:19). This 
relationship of perfect equality between saved Jews 
and saved Gentiles is termed in the next chapter ‘‘the 
mystery of Christ”, which had not been made known 
in times past, as God has now revealed it “unto His 
holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit’, namely, 
“That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the 
same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by 
(means of) the gospel” (3:4-6)*. ‘This participation 
by the saved of the Gentiles in the full benefits of 
Christ’s redemption was intimated by what was said 
in the prophecy of Zechariah concerning the ‘‘many 
nations” (Gentiles), and is confirmed by the like state- 
ment in Revelation 21:24. It is presented vividly in 
Romans XI by the figure of the olive tree, into which 
the branches of the wild olive tree (Gentiles) are 
grafted, ‘contrary to nature’, so to speak (Rom. 11: 
24). Here again the temporary blindness of the nat- 
ural Israel and the bringing in of “the fulness of the 
Gentiles” is spoken of as “this mystery’. So here we 
have further light on the words of the Angel, declar- 
ing that in the days of the voice of the seventh angel 





* As expressed in the Greek, the threefold recurrence of the prefix sun 
(=joint) is very forceful: ‘‘that the Gentiles should be joint-heirs, and a joint- 
body, and joint-partakers of His promise in Ohrist, through the glad-tidings’’, 





336 The Patmos Visions 


‘the mystery of God shall be finished’. For this pro- 
cess of building the temple of God, though it seems 
long (‘‘how long’’!) to us, will be “finished” at.the 
appointed time; and then Christ shall “‘present it to 
(or with) Himself, a church of glory, not having spot, 
or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be 
holy, and without blemish” (Eph. 5:27). This is what 
is pictured to us in the dazzling perfections of ‘‘the 
holy city, the new Jerusalem” (Rev. XXI). 

But the perfection of the Church (for here we have 
the true meaning of that much-abused word) involves 
a process of cleansing, for the removal of every “‘spot”’ 
and “wrinkle” and “blemish”. In order to “sanctify” 
it (7. e., to make it holy), Christ must needs “cleanse 
it with the washing of water by the word’ (Eph. 
5:26). He must not only bring into it every thing 
necessary to make it complete in all its dimensions— 
breadth, length, depth, and height—but He must re- 
move from it all that is foreign to it. So here is where 
the work of separation comes into view; and that work 
includes operations that are painful, though necessary. 
For God is very exact in all that He does. He finishes 
His work to the minutest detail, and at the precise mo: 
ment planned by Him. He works “by weight and 
measure’. 

This is what is involved in the symbol of measuring 
a building. For thereby its limits are fixed in every 
direction. All that belongs to it is included; and what- 
ever does not belong to it is rigidly excluded. As has 
been pointed out in connection with the vision of Chap- 





‘The Mighty Angel With the Little Book 337 


ter VII, that which is numbered or measured by God’s 
command is what He sets apart, or sanctifies as His 
own. 

In the light of the foregoing Scriptures it is easy to 
understand the command given to John by the mighty 
Angel, ‘‘Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the 
altar, and them that worship therein’. It tells us that 
the time is come for the complete and eternal separa- 
tion to God of all that is His, from association and 
contact with what is not His. ‘The ‘‘foundation” of 
the “great house” has always stood ‘“‘sure’”’ through- 
out the centuries; and it has been at all times true that 
“the Lord knoweth them that are His” (2 Tim. 2:19, 
20). Nevertheless, there have ever been those, like 
Hymenaeus and Philetus (v. 17), who, while not 
properly belonging to the house, have associated them- 
selves with it. But in the last days, God was to put 
into operation divine processes of various sorts whereby 
the separation of these incongruous elements should be 
effected. First of all is the call to separation, a call 
which is heard to the very end; for the last call of the 
Bible to the people of God is that which is heard at 
the eve of the destruction of Babylon, ‘“‘Come out of 
her, My people” (Rev. 18:4). And this is the very 
same call, though now uttered more imperatively, that 
had been sounded in the ears of Zechariah: “‘Deliver 
thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of 
Babylon” (Zech. 2:7). And to the same effect are 
the words of Paul in the passage cited above: “And 


ee —————————— ea 


338 The Patmos Visions 


SB OFAN AUTLEA Setoh Mahh cAtcoN tu re UO ng caean EO pe Pee ge 
let every one that nameth the Name of Christ depart 
from iniquity” (2 Tim. 2:19). 

This work is, I believe, in active progress in our 
day, and has been for some time past. Evidences of 
it are seen in every effort by individuals and companies, 
to withdraw from all that is not according to the re- 
vealed truth of God, and to adhere to “the apostles’ 
doctrine” and to the pattern of primitive christianity 
in all matters of faith and practice. In the present 
cleavage between “‘Fundamentalists’ and “Modern- 
ists’’ may be seen one phase of this work of separation. 

In the passage we are studying, the temple repre- 
sents the true “building of God”’ in all its proper parts. 
It is measured for preservation. ‘But the court, which 
is without the temple,’ John was commanded to “‘cast 
out” (marg.) ‘and measure it not; for it is given to the 
Gentiles’. ‘The word ‘‘cast out” (not leave out, 
as invithe) text.otiuthewAln Ve) isevery sorcetul: tor 
forcible means will be used at the very last. Note also 
that in this Book the word “‘Jews”’ is used in its high- 
est sense, as the proper designation of the true peo- 
ple of God, those who are within. Hence “Gentiles” 
means those who are without. This appears quite 
clearly from Chapter XXII. There the building of 
God, the eternal abode of God and the Lamb and of 
His redeemed people, stands revealed, complete and 
perfect in all its vast dimensions. And there it is 
said that “without are dogs” (22:15) that being the 
name applied to Gentiles, in contradistinction to Jews, 





The Mighty Angel With the Little Book 339 


dogs being ceremonially unclean animals (see com- 
ments at 22:15). 

Thus we have before us in Chapter XI a picture of 
a real sanctuary, ‘‘the temple of God’’, an altar, and 
true worshippers (see Heb. 10:19-22 and 13:10,15); 
but there is appended to it a ‘‘court’’, which is thronged 
with ‘‘Gentiles’. Such has been the state of things 
since the days of the Protestant Reformation. But the 
court is to be cast out, and given over entirely ‘‘to the 
Gentiles”, and they are to trample it under foot for 
forty and two months. This indicates that the forces 
of pseudo-christianity, the “liberals”, are to have con- 
trol of the nominal ‘“‘church’’, with all its vast posses- 
sions, machinery, etc. Such is virtually the present state 
of things; though some of God’s true people are con- 
tending for the possession of the outer ‘‘court’”. In 
the light of this prophecy their efforts are vain. But 
the true sanctuary with its altar will remain to them. 
Well for them if they would betake themselves to it 
without further delay. 

In the first chapter of Isaiah, God addresses those 
who were nominally His people, but whom He repudi- 
ated and whose worship He rejected, saying, ‘To what 
purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices” etc. ‘‘When 
ye come to appear before Me, who hath required this 
at your hand, to trample My courts” (R. V. and Jew- 
ish V.). This passage also throws light on that which 
we are studying. 

The figurative measure of time specified in Revela- 
tion 11:2, forty and two months, is the same as the 





340 The Patmos Visions 


1260 days of verse 3, and of Chapter 12:6; and the 
-same also as the “time, times, and half a time’ of 
12:14. It is found again in the oath of the Angel re- 
corded in Daniel 12:7. Being half a week (of years) 
it speaks of a shortened period of time, a broken seven. 
It is, of course, a spiritual measure; and how to trans- 
late it into the equivalent in natural time is not given 
to us—at least so far as I am aware. In this Book 
we are taken back and forth, from the natural realm 
to the spiritual, from the earthly to the heavenly; and 
in the spiritual realm we find conditions with which 
we are quite unfamiliar. Particularly difficult is it for 
us to comprehend the scales of measurement of time 
and space that are used by those that dwell in eternity. 
But further light as to this may come. 


THE Two WITNESSES 


During this period of preparatory separation, God 
gives power to His two witnesses, who are to prophesy 
in sackcloth for a period that is exactly the same as 
that during which the court of the temple is given over 
to be trampled under foot by the Gentiles. By this we 
know that His testimony to the world will be continued 
in divine power until His people are taken away from 
the earth. So we have two things of great importance 
assured to us for this last period of trial and sifting; 
first, that the true sanctuary, altar, and worshippers 
shall abide; and second, that there shall be a continu- 
ance of the testimony of the true gospel of Jesus Christ. 
And these two things are one; for those who worship 





The Mighty Angel With the Little Book 341 


inside the true sanctuary, are the same to whom power 
is given to bear witness outside. For we are not to 
look for just two divinely endowed persons, as Moses 
and Elijah, to appear upon the scene, as some suppose. 
The number two, like other numbers in this Book, has 
a symbolical meaning. ‘Two is the number of divine 
sufficiency in testimony. Out of the mouth of at least 
two witnesses was every word to be established (Deut. 
17:6; 19:15; Mat. 18:16). ‘The true witness’’, says 
Hengstenberg, “‘never stands isolated. He always finds 
some to whom he can join, hand to hand and heart to 
heart’. And as another has said, ‘‘In the midst of all 
tribulation it is an encouraging thing if a witness has 
at least one help, who stands side by side with him. Our 
Lord always sent forth His disciples by two together; 
and in earlier times there were Moses and Aaron, 
Joshua and Caleb, Zerubbabel and Joshua, Haggai and 
Zechariah; as on the opposite side Jannes and Jam- 
bres”. Likewise Paul had with him on his missionary 
journeys a Barnabas, a Silas, or a Timothy. For “‘two 
is better than one’’; and where there are two thus 
joined for testimony and labor in the Lord, the Holy 
Spirit with them, the Divine Witness (John 15:26; 
Acts 5:32) constitutes the “threefold cord that is not 
quickly broken” (Eccl. 4:9, 12). 

The two witnesses then are ideal persons; and they 
have the characteristics of Moses and Elijah, who were 
pattern witnesses. For, according to verse 6, they 
have, like the latter, power ‘‘to shut heaven that it 
rain not in the days of their prophecy”, and power, 


342 The Patmos Visions 


like the former, ‘“‘over waters to turn them to blood, 
and to smite the earth with all plagues as often as they 
will’. It is not said, as would be if these were an in- 
dividual Moses and an individual Elijah, that one had 
the one power, and the other the other. What is said 
is that the two collectively have the power to do both. 
This enabling is the gift of Christ, “I will give My two 
witnesses power’, bestowed with special reference to 
the need of the time. It recalls His words just before 
His ascension, ‘‘Ye shall receive power, and ye shall be 
witnesses unto Me” (Acts 1:8). 

These witnesses of the end-time are to prophesy 
‘clothed in sack-cloth”’. This points to the circum- 
stances in which their testimony is to be given. Christ’s 
witnesses will not be clad in ecclesiastical regalia, they 
will not be personages of rank and title among men, 
but will be of lowly station, and like Christ’s first wit- 
nesses will be regarded “‘as the filth of the world and 
the offscouring of all things”. For their testimony 
will be not of progress and world-betterment, not of 
peace and safety, not of the triumphs of science, nor 
of anything that the world loves to hear when it “goes 
to church”. But they must testify of death and judg- 
ment, of the day of wrath and perdition of ungodly 
men, of the coming of the rejected Lord Jesus Christ 
in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them—whosoever 
they may be and howsoever exalted their station—who 
know not God, and who obey not the gospel of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with ever- 





The Mighty Angel With the Little Book 343 


lasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and 
from the glory of His power (2 Thess. 1:7-9). 

It is further stated concerning these two witnesses 
that they are “the two olive trees, and the two candle- 
sticks, standing before the God of the earth”’. The sig- 
nificance of the candlestick, as representing a witness- 
bearer, has been fully pointed out in connection with 
the vision of Chapter I. That these witnesses stand 
“before the God of the earth’ declares that, in the 
spiritual realm, they have positions of high honor and 
dignity, though on earth they prophesy in sackcloth. 
This is in accordance with the principle that ‘‘the last” 
(here) ‘‘shall be first’’ (there). ‘The reference to the 
two olive trees and two candlesticks takes us again to 
Zechariah, where in Chapter 4 is described the vision 
of a golden candlestick and two olive trees, one on the 
right side and the other on the left (vv. 2, 3); and it 
is explained that ‘these are the two anointed ones (lit. 
sons of oil) that stand by the Lord of the whole earth” 
(v. 13). This shows that God’s witnesses are furnished 
continuously for their ministry with the power and 
graces of the Holy Spirit as typified by the continuous 
flow of the “golden oil” through the “golden pipes’. 

Moreover, by verse 5 we are to understand that God 
arms His servants against their enemies; and though 
the weapons of their warfare be not carnal, yet are 
they “mighty through God’. For “where the oil is, 
there also is fire. It is the strength of one and the 
same Spirit, which manifests itself in the testimony of 
salvation for those who will have it, and in vengeance 





344. | The Patmos Visions 


on the wicked. The Lord has put His word in their 
mouth, which is like a fire, and like a hammer that 
breaks the rock into pieces” (Hengstenberg). Thus 
the Lord said to Jeremiah in his loneliness and feeble- 
ness: ‘“‘Behold, I will make My words in thy mouth 
fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them”’ 
(Jer. 5:14). This, of course, is not to be understood 
literally. It meant that all the words of God spoken 
by Jeremiah would be fulfilled against those who with- 
stood him. And such is the meaning here: “If any 
man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed”’. 

‘‘And when they shall have finished their testimony; 
the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit, shall 
make war against them, and kill them” (v.7). 

The reference to the beast that ascendeth out of the 
abyss is a link with what follows (17:8). It shows 
- that the vision leads on to the era of the last days of 
beast-government. According to the symbolical lan- 
guage of this Book, we are to understand that the tes- 
timony of God’s witnesses will be suppressed by gov- 
ernmental authority, which then will be fully in the 
hands of Satan; but that will not be permitted “until 
they shall have finished their testimony”’. 

The scene of this overcoming of the witnesses is “‘the 
street of the great city, which spiritually is called 
Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified” 
(v. 8). In Chapter 18, in the lament over the down- 
fall of the world (there pictured as ‘‘Babylon’”’), are 
the words, ‘‘Alas! alas! that great city” (v.16). Here 
we have the designations Sodom and Egypt, which 


The Mighty Angel With the Little Book 345 








speak respectively, the former of the moral corruption, 
and the latter of the spiritual darkness of the world, 
out of which God is about to take His people by an 
act of power. The words, ‘‘where also our Lord was 
crucified”, signify that the guilt of His crucifixion is to 
be laid upon all those in the whole world who have re- 
jected the mercy that flows from the cross. It is to be 
according to the word of His betrayers and murderers: 
‘Then answered all the people and said, His blood be 
on us, and on our children” (Mat. 27:25). 


“And they of the people, and kindreds, and tongues and 
nations, shall see their dead bodies three days and a half, and 
shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they 
that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make 
merry, and shall send gifts one to another, because these two 
prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth” (vv. 9, 10). 


From this we see that the testimony of these wit- 
nesses is world-wide, not a mere local affair, as the wit- 
ness of two individuals would necessarily be. All the 
peoples and nations of earth are involved in the matter. 

And why, it will be asked, do they rejoice over the 
suppression of the testimony of the witnesses? This 
is explained by the statement that the word of those 
prophets was a torment to them that dwelt on the 
earth. And so indeed it is. For notwithstanding that 
the servants of Christ are but a feeble few; notwith- 
standing that they are of lowly station, and have no 
other weapon than the word of their testimony; yet 
that word is the truth of God, and the hearts and con- 


346 The Patmos Visions 


sciences of men bear witness to this even while they 
Scou) at it. 

“And after three days and a half the Spirit of life from God 
entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great 
fear fell upon them which saw them. And they heard a great 
voice from Heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And 
they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld 


them” (vv. 11, 12). 


The rejoicing of the enemies of the truth was very 
brief. For a mighty outpouring of the Spirit is in- 
dicated by the words of verse 11, bringing a revival 
of the testimony. The witnesses spring to life and 
stand upon their feet. Nor is this last testimony of 
God’s people without avail; for great fear fell on them 
that saw them. Moreover, verse 13 records that in 
that same hour there was a great earthquake, and a 
tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were 
slain of men seven thousand (a number of complete- 
ness) and that “the remnant were affrighted and gave 
glory to the God of heaven’. 

What verse 12 describes is the ending of the testi- 
mony of the people of God on earth; and the descrip- 
tion agrees so closely with that given by the apostle 
Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 that I see no room for 
doubt that both passages refer to the same event. For 
here we have “the voice’’ saying ‘“‘Come up hither’, and 
the statement that they ascended up to heaven in a 
cloud. Is not this the next predicted event to be looked 
for? 





The Mighty Angel With the Little Book 347 


This catching away of the witnesses is placed imme- 
diately before the sounding of the seventh trumpet, 
and the announcement of the coming of God’s wrath 
(v. 18). And this also agrees with the passage in 1 
Thessalonians, in which the apostle after describing 
the descent of the Lord from heaven with a shout, with 
the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God, and 
the catching away of both the living and the resur- 
rected saints ‘‘in the clouds’, goes on to say that “God 
hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation 
by our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Th. 5:7). 

The question will naturally arise as to time indicated 
by the loud voice of the mighty Angel and the seven 
thunders. As this is a vision of something that hap- 
pened on the heavenly side of things, it is not possible 
to say with certainty just what manifestation of it was 
given on the earthly and visible side. I may venture 
the suggestion, however, that what marked this event 
outwardly was the Protestant Reformation (This is 
not a new suggestion, though it occurred to me inde- 
pendently). That great event took place at the time 
the waning of the Turkish power began. It was a 
world-shaking event. It was the dawn of a new era, 
the beginning of those great movements that were to 
usher in the days of the seventh trumpet. Moreover, 
it was of a nature corresponding to the voice and ac- 
tions of Christ in the guise of the mighty Angel of 
Chapter X. Very likely, therefore, there began at 
that time (sixteenth century) the era of the prophesy- 
ing anew concerning peoples and nations and tongues 


348 The Patmos Vistons 


and many kings (for certainly it was a new era of the 
preaching of the Word of God) ; the separation of the 
true from the untrue in the house of God; and the final 
testimony of God, by His two witnesses clothed in 
sackcloth. At that time also there was a great and 
wonderful revival of learning. The invention of print- 
ing by means of movable type, which invention gave 
us the printing press, with all, both of good and evil, 
that has resulted therefrom, coincided with the trans- 
lation of the Holy Scriptures out of the original lan- 
guages, Hebrew and Greek, into the vernacular, Eng- 
lish and German, with results that have been incalcul- 
ably great. From that day to the present, the diffusion 
of the knowledge of the Bible has continued. Even 
within recent years and months translations have been 
made into tongues and dialects used by millions of peo- 
ples. It is true, indeed, that the prince of darkness has 
been mightily served by the printing press, and that lit- 
erature of an antichristian character is increasing at 
an enormous rate. But both ways it is working toward 
the accomplishment of the purposes of God, to gather 
out of all the nations a people for His Name, and to 
Separate them from those who are not His. Most 
certainly therefore, the era of the Reformation was 
one of the greatest of the entire dispensation, and 
hence well deserving of a place in this prophecy. More- 
over, the work of that era has the two outstanding 
features emphasized in the vision of Chapters X and 
XI, namely, (1) prophesying again over peoples, na- 





The Mighty Angel With the Little Book 349 


tions, tongues and kings, and (2) separating to God 
that which is truly His. 
CONCERNING THE FUTURE OF THE EARTHLY ISRAEL 

Many of those who adopt the futurist system of in- 
terpretation regard prophecies which speak of the tem- 
ple of God, such as that of Revelation 11:1, 2, as 
referring to a future rebuilding of the Jewish temple 
in Jerusalem, and the resumption of animal sacrifices. 
It will be appropriate at this point to present a brief 
discussion of this idea. 

One of the great and eternal results of the sacrifice 
of Christ, a result upon which the Scriptures lay the 
fullest stress, is that it swept away forever the entire 
system of Jewish ceremonial—temple, priesthood, and 
especially those sacrifices in which God had “no pleas- 
ure’’, because they could ‘‘never take away sins’”’ (Heb. 
10:1-12). Another of the results of the cross is that 
thereby the Lord Jesus abolished that ‘‘middle wall of 
partition”: which of old separated Gentiles from Jews 
(Eph. 2:14-22). These Scriptures make it impossible 
that God should ever again recognize an “Israel after 
the flesh’’, or re-establish the abolished Jewish ritual, 
or any part thereof. All that system of worship was 
one of “shadows’’; and like the “old covenant’’, of 
which it was an integral part, it is done away forever. 
Moreover, and this is the serious part of the matter, 
the doctrine of the restoration of the Jewish nation, 
with its temple, priesthood and sacrifices, is a denial of 
what the Scriptures point to as one of the most import- 
ant consequences of the sacrifice of Jesus Chirst. This 





350 The Patmos Visions 


whole doctrine, and all that goes with it, rests upon the 
very same mistaken and utterly carnal system of inter- 
pretation of the O. T. prophecies that caused the Jews’ 
to reject and crucify Christ (Ac. 13:27). For the 
Zion of prophecy is the spiritual Zion; the Jerusalem 
of prophecy which God promised to build up, is the 
heavenly Jerusalem; the Israel of prophecy is “the 
Israel of God’’; and the temple of prophecy is the 
‘spiritual house’ of 1 Peter 2:5, and Ephesians 2: 
20-22. 

The death and resurrection of Christ abolished all 
national distinctions, so that now we know “no man 
after the flesh” (2 Cor. 5:16). Most certainly, if the 
future of Israel is revealed anywhere in the N. T. it 
would be found in Romans XI and in the Apocalypse. 
And sure enough we find it in the former, which fore- 
tells, not that Israel after the flesh will be re-established 
as a nation on earth, but that all Israel will be saved 
by being graffed into that very “‘olive tree’, a figure of 
spiritual Israel, into which believing Gentiles are now 
being graffed. And as for the Apocalypse, we search 
it in vain for any hint of the restoration of the earthly 
Israel. On the contrary, its predictions leave no room 
for anything but the spiritual Israel, and the heavenly 
city and temple; and most certainly no room for any 
sacrifice but that of the Lamb that was slain. There- 
fore the doctrine of the restoration of the Jewish na- 
tion and the earthly Jerusalem is a baseless dream. 
Speaking on the subject of “the temple of God” of 
Chapter XI, Hengstenberg says: 





The Mighty Angel With the Little Book 351 


“No trace whatever is to be found here of Jerusalem and the 
temple being in ruins at the time of the vision; nor any trace of 
a rebuilding to take place in the future, either here or in any 
other part of the Book. . . . This literal method of exposition 
belongs to an entire chain of representations in regard to the 
Kingdom of God, which has recently indeed obtained extensive 
support, especially in England, where in particular the Society 
for the Conversion of the Jews is pervaded by it. But we 
cannot regard it as agreeable to the Scriptures. It is a kind 
of revival of the Jewish-Christian tendency of the ancient 
church. It nourishes in the unconverted that natural pride, 
the extirpation of which should be one of the first objects of a 
true spiritual activity. Let us then look back to the soundness 
of the older church, and cease to change Jewish Christians into 
Christian Jews”. 


Vitringa also discusses this distinction between Jews 
and Gentiles in the flesh, saying: 


“This distinction is entirely taken away under the new econ- 
omy. For as the heathen, who were converted to Christ, were 
graffed into the Jewish olive tree; so the Jews, who in the latter 
days shall be converted to Christ, shall become incorporated 
with the mystical and spiritual ‘Jews,’ and shall possess along 
with them, without any difference, the same condition in the 
Kingdom of Christ. All are one in Christ.” 


Speaking of the declarations of the Epistle to the 
Romans, Hengstenberg remarks: 


“They speak much of the blessing which the conversion of the 
Jews shall bring to the church of the future; but nothing what- 
ever of a new church of the Jews, of the restoration of Jeru- 
salem, the rebuilding of the temple, or generally of a reviving 
of the old beggarly elements, which have been completely swept 
away by Christ and His blood, placing all nations on a footing. 
The question is thus thrown entirely back upon the Old Testa- 
ment. If anyone is ready to conclude that, whenever Israel is 





352 The Patmos Visions 


there spoken of, the Jews are meant, he can certainly prove 
much; but little good will be done by such a light and superficial 
mode of expounding the Old Testament Scriptures. What 
the Spirit has said must be spiritually understood. . . . An 
olive tree, a people of God, stands from first to last; an ‘Israel’, 
out of which the false seed is excluded, and into which believers 
from among the Gentiles are adopted”. . . . 

“He who is truly ‘in Christ’ can no longer know anyone after 
the flesh. "He to whom Christ is what He was to John, the 
Alpha and Omega, the first and last, the Prince of the kings 
of the earth, the One who has loved us and washed us from our 
sins in His blood, and has made us kings and priests to God 
and His Father, is raised entirely above the territory of mere 
Jewish sympathies”’. 

“We maintain therefore, that Revelation knows of no pre- 
rogatives belonging peculiarly to the Jews in the Kingdom of 
God. Gentile Christians have perfectly equal rights imputed 
to them with the Jewish brethren; so much so that the seer 
makes no account of any distinction between Jewish and Gen- 
tile believers”. . . . 

“But there is also another line of argument by which we 
reach the same result. We perceive that everywhere else the 
things of Judaism serve only as the forms and symbols under 
which the Book represents things christian; and all these anal- 
ogies lead to the conclusion that by the temple here cannot pos- 
sibly be meant the temple at Jerusalem. That by ‘Israel’ the 
author does not denote those he thought worthy of the name 
because of their natural descent from Jacob, but the entire body 
of true Christians, we have already shown. In like manner he 
holds no other to be ‘Jews’ but true Christians, for ‘Jew’ in this 
book denotes one who is circumcised in heart (2:9). Bold as 
it may seem, he must also deny to the temple at Jerusalem the 
name ‘temple’. The ‘priests’ of Revelation, who must of course 
have a temple corresponding to them, are not the sons of Aaron, 
but are all Christ’s people (1:6; 5:10; 20:6). Nay, the temple 


. me . . ° oe 
itseif also occurs elsewhere in the Revelation in a spiritual 





The Mighty Angel With the Little Book 353 


sense. And this is the more decisive in that in each passage the 
discourse is not of a temple, but precisely of the temple of God. 
Even in the first group it is said, ‘Him that overcomes will I 
make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no 
Ore OUtHCS SIZ) Ate, 

“Further, it has now again to be pointed out how that (as 
from the first is felt by a simple faith in the written word) we 
have here holy ground, on which no patriotic imaginations, and 
no products of common and impure human feeling are to be 
found.” 


THe Hope or ISRAEL 


The Scriptures of the N. TIT. declare with no un- 
certain sound that, just as there is but ‘‘one faith” for 
all mankind, Jew and Gentile, even so there is but 
‘one hope” (Eph. 4:4-6). That is “the hope laid up 
in heaven’’, “‘the hope of the gospel” (Col. 1:5, 23). 
It was for preaching this one hope’ to both Jews 
and Gentiles that Paul was accused by the leaders of 
his own people, and sent in chains to Rome. To this 
he himself testified to the Jews at Rome, saying: ‘‘For 
this cause therefore have I called for you, to see you, 
and to speak with you; because that for the hope of 
Israel I am bound with this chain” (Ac. 28:20). What 
he had preached as ‘“‘the hope of Israel” was the 
resurrection (Ac. 23:6; 24:15 &c). He had declared 
that this was “the hope of the promise made of God to 
our fathers; unto which our twelve tribes, instantly 
serving God day and night, hope to come”. And he 
added: “For which hope’s sake, King Agrippa, I am 
accused of the Jews” (Ac. 26:6, 7). Furthermore he 


354 The Patmos Visions 


declared that what he preached was not a departure 
from the teaching of the O. T., but on the contrary he 
had witnessed to ‘“‘none other things than those which 
the prophets and Moses did say should come’’ (Ac. 
DOGLz,.)' 

The apostle Peter likewise affirms with emphasis 
that those who preached the gospel, (the apostles of 
Christ) announced the very same salvation that the 
prophets had foretold (1 Pet. 2:10-12). 

It appears to be quite a modern doctrine that there 
is to be a special salvation, after the end of the gospel 
dispensation, for a section of the human family (the 
natural descendants of Jacob). But whether a modern 
doctrine or an ancient one, it is directly contrary to the 
teaching of the N. T. (and hence to that of the O. T. 
also) which declares in many passages that the cross of 
Christ has forever removed the ancient wall of parti- 
tion between Jew and Gentile, has abolished all na- 
tional distinctions and has swept away the old covenant 
and all that was connected with it. The N. T. also 
declares in the plainest way that the day of salvation 
for the whole world will end with the coming of Christ. 
Therefore, to preach another chance, whether for all 
(according to Russellism) or for the Jews only, as a 
specially privileged class, is subversive of foundation 
truth. 

This is a large subject, which cannot be fully treated 
here. But there is no need of an exhaustive discussion 


of it. The Lord Himself has declared that when He 
shall come again in His glory, and all the holy angels 
with Him, then ‘‘before Him shall be gathered all 
nations’; and He will divide them into two companies, 
to one of which He will say, ‘“‘Come ye blessed of My 
Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from 
the foundation of the world’’; and to the other, ‘‘De- 
part from Me, ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared 
for the devil and His angels” (Mat. 25 :31-46). This 
Scripture makes it certain that none who are unsaved 
at the time of His second advent will find any mercy 
thereafter. And to put the matter beyond all doubt, 
the words of the King make it plain that the difference 
between the two companies is due to what they did and 
were before His advent. For in one class were those 
who had manifested by their actions that they had the 
righteousness of God which the gospel offers, and in 
the other those whose actions showed they were desti- 
tute of it. 

Such passages as 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10; 2:7-12, 
and Revelation 19:11-21, also exclude the possibility 
of anything but judgment upon those who have re- 
jected the gospel, when Christ shall come again. 

We shall presently see that the truth of the one 
“olive tree’, the one and only “Israel”, which stands 
from first to last, has much to do with the right un- 
derstanding of Chapter XII. 





356 The Patmos Visions 


THE SEVENTH TRUMPET 


‘“’The second woe is past: and, behold, the third woe cometh 
quickly. And the seventh angel sounded: and there were great 
voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become 
the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall 
reign for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders, which 
sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and wor- 
shipped God, saying, We give Thee thanks, O Lord God 
almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because Thou 
hast taken to Thee Thy great power, and hast reigned. And 
the nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come, and the time 
of the dead that they should be judged, and that ‘Thou shouldest 
give reward unto hy servants the prophets, and to the saints, 
and them that fear Thy name, small and great: and shouldest 
destroy them which destroy the earth” (11:14-18). 


We learn the nature of the great events of the sev- 
enth trumpet not from any vision seen by John, but 
from the announcement made by the great voices in 
heaven, and by the theme of the praises offered by the 
elders who, in the intensity of their joy and thankful- 
ness, leave their thrones and fall upon their faces be- 
fore God. The words that proceed from those two 
sources give a brief summary of the transcendently im- 
portant events of that era, ignoring all details, and giv- 
ing no account at all of the steps whereby this supreme 
purpose of God is accomplished. ‘This information is 
supplied by later visions. But for the moment, the 
realization of what is about to take place fills the heart 
and mind to overflowing, leaving no room for details. 
As Bengel discerningly remarks: ‘‘As soon as the sey- 
enth angel sounds, the kingdom of the world becomes 
the Lord’s and His Christ’s forever. It is only in 





‘The Mighty Angel With the Little Book 357 


heaven, however, that this takes place so immediately; 
and in heaven alone is it celebrated with joy; for dread- 
ful things are still to intervene on earth”. 

It has been already observed that the vision of the 
sixth seal brought us to the time of the end, as was 
fully realized by the kings, magnates and plutocrats of 
the world. But at that point the progress of the re- 
vealing of events is arrested, and the action of the day 
of wrath is held in suspense for the revelation of an- 
other line of things, parallel to the visions of the seals; 
and it is only when we reach the seventh trumpet that 
we find ourselves at the same point at which we had 
arrived when, at the opening of the seventh seal, there 
was an ominous silence in heaven. 

The next action noted as taking place on earth is 
that mentioned in verse 19. 


“And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there 
was seen in His Temple the ark of His testament (or cove- 
nant): and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, 
and an earthquake, and great hail”. 


The first statement of this verse connects with the 
first verse of the chapter concerning the measuring of 
the temple. Now the temple of God is seen “in 
heaven’’, indicating its completion. Moreover it is 
opened, and there is seen in it the ark of His covenant, 
the earthly counterpart whereof had not been seen or 
heard of since the destruction of the first temple by 
Nebuchadnezzar. This is the symbol of God’s eternal 
relations with His people. It comes into view most 
appropriately at the moment of the accomplishment of 





358 The Patmos Visions 


what He had pledged Himself to do by the terms of 
the everlasting covenant. ‘The basis of this work of 
God is the atonement, symbolized by the mercy seat, 
which was an integral part (the cover) of the ark. 
As remarked by Hengstenberg: 


“The indispensable condition of God’s connection with men, 
the foundation of His dwelling among them, is the atoning 
divine compassion. ‘This was symbolized by the capporeth (the 
covering mercy seat). As externally the capporeth covered the 
ark with its testimony, so spiritually did the divine compassion 
the sins of the people’. 


The ark of God’s covenant brings to mind His 
eternal purpose in the creation of man, as declared in 
Genesis 1:26. That purpose was to be accomplished, 
of course, through redemption. Therefore, the appear- 
ance of the ark is an appropriate introduction to the 
panoramic vision of Chapter XII, in which the various 
stages of its accomplishment are traced. 

But in remembering His holy covenant, God also 
brings to mind the long-delayed time for the final judg- 
ments upon the wicked. That that dreadful time is 
now come is signalized by the five symbols of judg- 
ments, lightnings, voices, thunderings, an earthquake, 
and great hail. (See comments on Chapter 8:5). 

In the account of the taking of Jericho (Josh. VI), 
to which these trumpet visions evidently refer, the ark 
of the covenant of the Lord has a very prominent place 
(vvic+,:6,77,'8,°9, 11, 13)... "Che priests bearing: the 
seven trumpets went before the ark of the Lord (v. 6). 
And Joshua commanded the people, saying, ‘‘Ye shall 





‘The Mighty Angel With the Little Book 359 


not shout nor make any noise with your voice, neither 
shall any word proceed out of your mouth, until the 
day I bid you shout: then shall ye shout” (v. 10). 
But when the priests blew with the trumpets the sey- 
enth time, then Joshua said unto the people, ‘Shout, 
for the Lord hath given you the city” (v. 16). So 
likewise here, the seven trumpets precede the appear- 
ing of the ark, during all of which time it seems there 
was ‘silence in heayen” (Rev. 8:1). But at the 
sounding of the seventh trumpet, the silence is broken; 
and there is, so to speak, a mighty shout proceeding 
from “great voices in heaven”, which announce the 
downfall of the rebel kingdoms of this world. 


CHAPTER VIII 


The Two Signs in Heaven 


‘“‘And there appeared a great wonder in heaven: a woman 
clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon 
her head a crown of twelve stars: and she being with child 
cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And 
there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great 
red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns 


upon his heads” (12:1-3). 
i \HERE is evidently another interruption and the 


beginning of another new group of visions at this 

point. It is a group that has its culmination in 
the era of the seventh trumpet, and its design (I think 
quite plainly) is to give a panoramic view of the chief 
events in the history of the conflict that reaches its 
climax and end in the days of the seventh trumpet. 
Here are two “‘wonders”’ (or more properly “‘signs’’, 
as in the margin) seen in heaven, signs as different in 
character as it would be possible to conceive. The 
first is that of a woman, with whom are associated in 
a striking and impressive way the symbols of govern- 
mental authority—sun, moon, and stars. The other is 
that of a horrible monster, a great red dragon, who is 
set with one fell purpose, namely to devour the child 
which the woman is about to bring forth. We are left 
in no uncertainty as to the symbol of the dragon, for 
in verse 9 it is stated that it represents ‘‘that old ser- 
pent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the 
whole world’. With this information, and with the 


360 





The Two Signs in Heaven 361 


light of Scripture as to other symbols used in the 
vision, its meaning can be deciphered with all necessary 
fullness. The symbols of sun, moon and stars show 
that what is in controversy in the stupendous conflict 
here to be pictured, is the supreme dominion of the 
world; and the Devil is shown as the great adversary 
who dares to resist God’s purpose in regard thereto. 

That the ‘‘Manchild who was to rule all nations with 
a rod of iron” is Jesus Christ is not reasonably open to 
dispute. Psalm 2:9 is decisive as to this; and in the 
light of all Scripture that prophecy applies to Him, and 
to Him only. He takes it to Himself in Chapter 2:27, 
as that which He had received from His Father. 
Certain weak attempts that have been made to give 
another meaning to verse 5, in order to make a future 
event of the catching up of the Manchild to God and 
to His throne, find no support in the Scriptures. 


THE SUN CLOTHED WOMAN 


This gives the clue to the meaning of the sun-clothed 
‘woman, in whom many, probably most expositors, see 
Israel. And this conclusion is in accord with all the 
facts, only that the vision takes us back to the very 
beginning of the Bible, to a time before Israel was. 
Yet Israel existed in the purpose of God before the 
creation of the world; not of course, the natural Israel, 
but the spiritual. For while in the order of happening 
in the world, “that is not first which is spiritual, but 
that which is natural’’, it is not so in the mind and view 
of God. What is displayed therefore, in this “great 





362 The Patmos Visions 


sign” of verse 1, with its marvellous grouping of the 


symbols of celestial power and glory, is God’s purpose 
in the creation of man, a purpose that was to be accom- 
plished, not in the first man Adam, but in the second 
Man Jesus Christ, the woman’s “Seed’’. The proof 
of this is ample, as I will now seek to show; though I 
believe those of clear spiritual vision will ‘‘see’’ it, 
without the piling of proof upon proof. 

God’s purpose in the creation of man is declared by 
Him in Genesis 1:26: ‘‘Let Us make man, in Our 
image, after Our likeness; and let them HAVE 
DOMINION . . . OVER ALL THE EARTH”. The symbols 
of rule over the earth had been described in verse 16: 
‘The greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light 
to rule the night; the stars also”. The great sign dis- 
played in Revelation 12:1 is a woman clothed with the 
symbol of supreme authority, the sun, and having the 
symbol of lesser authority, the moon, in the place of 
subordination, ‘under her feet’. Moreover, she is 
crowned with twelve stars, stars being princes or rulers, 
and twelve being the signature of governmental com- 
pleteness, as has been already shown. Thus, the sym- 
bols agree so perfectly with the meaning here assigned 
to them that further proof is not needed in order to 
establish the matter. But there is more. 

God made man ‘“‘male and female”, so that either 
might properly serve as a symbol of mankind as a race. 
The circumstances must determine the choice; and for 
the purpose of what is symbolized by this vision, the 
woman is obviously the appropriate figure. This pro- 


The Two Signs in Heaven 363 


ceeds from the fact that it is concerning the Seed of 
the woman (“her Seed’) that the great promise in 
Eden was given (Gen. 3:15). ‘This is decisive. But 
furthermore, in all prophecies and other passages 
where figurative language is used, God, when speaking 
of His people collectively, refers to them as a woman, 
as in Isaiah LIV for example, where He speaks of the 
true Israel as “‘a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit”’ 
and refers to Himself as her “Husband” and her 
‘Redeemer’. 

This declared purpose of God in the creation of man 
was seemingly frustrated by the Devil through his suc- 
cessful temptation of man, whereby his entire race was 
brought under the ‘‘dominion” of sin and death (Rom. 
5:12-6:14). But God re-afirmed His purpose, speak- 
ing directly to the serpent, and saying: “I will put 
enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy 
seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou 
shalt bruise his heeel’. Thus the accomplishment of 
God’s purpose involved the overthrow of the devil; 
and therefore it became the supreme purpose of the 
great enemy’s heart to ‘‘devour’” the woman’s Seed as 
soon as He should be born. This is vividly pictured 
in the vision, where the hideous dragon is represented 
as standing before the woman, with intent to devour 
her child as soon as it was born (v. 4). The designa- 
tion “‘that old serpent’”’ takes us back to Eden, as do 
also the words ‘“‘who deceiveth the whole world”. For 
the Devil is as ‘‘old”’ as creation. It was in Eden that 
he appeared in the guise of a “‘serpent’”’; and there he 





364 The Patmos Visions 


began his career of ‘‘deceiver’’ of mankind. ‘These 
correspondences make the interpretation thus far quite 
plain. But more than that, the words of the Lord God 
to the serpent: “I will put enmity between thee and 
the woman’, are in the closest agreement with the atti- 
tude in which the dragon stands with relation to the 
woman. 

Thus we are able to determine with certainty the 
beginning of the train of events pictured in Chapter 
XII (and continued in Chapter XIII); and the con- 
text tells us that the end thereof is the accomplishment 
of God’s eternal purpose in vesting the sovereignty of 
the world in the woman’s Seed. Knowing then the 
beginning and the ending of this train of events, it is 
not a difficult matter to interpret the intermediate scenes 
thereof. ‘These are outlined with brevity, the object 
evidently being to lead us to the final scenes of the age- 
long conflict (shown in subsequent chapters) by a path 
which will prepare us the better to understand those 
supremely important visions. 

Let us now look more closely at the details of the 
vision. 

Between verses 1 and 2 a great change has taken 
place in the state of the woman. In verse 1 she 
appears in serene and lofty majesty, adorned with all 
the insignia of celestial glory. In verse 2, she is crying 
with anguish, travailing in birth-pangs, and pained to 
be delivered. Between the two verses occurs the fall; 
and in this second scene we plainly beheld the fulfil- 





The Two Signs in Heaven 365 


ment of the sentence of Judgment, “In sorrow thou 
shalt bring forth children” (Gen. 3:16). 

According to various Scriptures, the heavy afflictions 
upon Israel that preceded the birth of the Saviour are 
represented by the figure of severe birth-pains coming 
upon Zion. Among those Scriptures are the following: 
‘“‘T have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the 
anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child; 
the voice of the daughter of Zion that bewaileth her- 
self’ (Jer. 4:31). ‘And thou, O tower of the flock, the 
stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it 
come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come 
to the daughter of Jerusalem. Now why dost thou 
cry out aloud? is there no king in thee? for pangs have 
taken thee as a woman in travail” (Mic. 4:8,9). And 
a few verses further on is the well known prophecy of 
the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem of Judah (Mic. 5:2). 

Commenting upon the picture shown in verses 2 and 
3, Vitringa says: 


“Nothing is omitted that might set forth the greatness and 
severity of the woman’s conflict in the most lively colors. She 
was in the pains of labor seized with the most violent pangs of 
child-birth, and in this state appears to be supported only by 
_ the hope of the male offspring she had so greatly desired. But 
she sees-a frightful dragon, ready to devour her child so soon 
as it should be born”. 


And Hartwig, in his work on the Apocalypse, ob- 
serves with excellent discrimination, 





366 The Patmos Visions 


“That in this whole representation there are such unmistak- 
able allusions to the true history of the child Jesus, His mother, 
and the tyranny of Herod, as related in the second chapter of 
Matthew, that this chapter receives from it a new confirmation”’. 


THE DRAGON 

The dragon is pictured as fiery red in color, sug- 
gesting his cruelty and his bloody career as a murderer 
from the beginning. This especial word “‘red’’ occurs 
here and in Chapter 6:10 (the red horse) and nowhere 
else in Scripture. But most significant are-the seven 
heads, expressive of the completeness of his dominion, 
the ten horns, symbolizing the world-wide character 
of his rule, and the seven crowns, telling of the fullness 
of royalty. The significance of these symbols lies in 
the fact that they tend further, and most impressively 
to show that it is the kingdom, which Satan had so 
long held in his hands, and purposes not to surrender 
without the most desperate struggle, that is the subject 
of this scene, and of what follows. And it is most true, 
as Hengstenberg remarks, that ‘‘Prophecy and history 
concerning the Kingdom of God come upon the main 
point only when the conflict between Christ and Satan 
comes into view’. 

‘And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven and 
did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the 
woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child 
as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who 


was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was 
caught up unto God, and to His throne” (vv. 4, 5). 


The third part of the stars which the dragon drew 
after him represent the fallen angels. We have al- 





The Two Signs in Heaven 367 


ready had Christ’s explanation that stars in this Book 
represent angels; and here we may perceive the con- 
sistency of the Book. In agreement with this, we find 
in verse 7, ‘‘and the dragon fought and his angels’, 
these being evidently the “stars” of verse 4. In Isaiah 
9:15 it is written that ‘“‘the prophet that speaketh lies, 
he is the tail’. Putting this with the statement of the 
text that the dragon’s “‘tail drew the third part of the 
stars of heaven’’, and remembering that “he 1s a liar, 
and the father of it” (the lie), we get the thought that 
it was through some falsehood that the Devil drew 
these angels after him into rebellion against God, even 
as by a lie he seduced the woman at the beginning. The 
ground of this revolt of the angels may be inferred 
from Hebrews 1:10, where it is recorded of God the 
Father that, ‘when He bringeth the First begotten 
into the world, He saith, And let all the angels of God 
worship Him”. Here were some who refused to sub- 
mit to Him; and the number was great. Not that the 
phrase, ‘‘a third part’, means a mathematical third; 
for that phrase is of frequent occurrence in the Book, 
having evidently the meaning of incompleteness—a 
substantial number, but considerably less than the 
whole. 

Speaking of the action of the dragon in placing him- 
self before the woman with the design of devouring 
her child, Hengstenberg makes these illuminating com- 
ments; 





368 The Patmos Visions 


‘The same wickedness had been practiced by him in ancient 
times. ‘The life of Moses, on whom the hopes of the people of 
God hung during the fearful oppression exercised over them by 
the enemy, was brought into extreme peril by him at the very 
first. At the coming of Christ, whose appearance threatened 
far greater danger to his dominion upon earth, who was to 
withdraw from him not only the people of God but the heathen 
also, who should attack him in his own territory, he set his in- 
struments anew in motion, as is recorded in Matthew 2:1-12, 
to which allusion is here manifestly made. Herod, the servant 
of the dragon, as soon as he heard of the birth of Christ, takes 
measures to have the new born child slain, and kills all the 
children in Bethlehem under two years old, that he might make 
sure of destroying the one hated child. He has been manifesting 
the same wickedness also since, as often as Christ is born anew 
in the Spirit. What he did through Herod is, because history, 
also a symbol, a prophecy in action’. 


What happened between the birth of Christ and His 
ascension into heaven is fully told in the Gospels. 
Hence it is all passed over here; and the next thing 
mentioned is that He was ‘‘caught up to God and His 
throne’. ‘This event, therefore, is that which has 
specially to do with the war in heaven, mentioned in 
verse 7. But meanwhile we have this statement about 
the woman: 

‘And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a 


place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a 
thousand two hundred and threescore days” (v. 6). 


The next stage in the history of the woman, her so- 
journ in the wilderness, is here briefly stated by way of 
anticipation, that it may be placed in direct contrast 
with that of her child. The thread of the woman’s 


The Two Signs in Heaven 369 


history is taken up again at verse 14. For her the world 
is now a wilderness wide, a place where there are no 
natural sources of nourishment or of satisfaction for 
the heart. Yet God’s care of her is pledged; for even 
there a place is “prepared” for her, and nourishment 
is to be provided for the mystical period of 1260 days. 
The thought conveyed by this verse is the preservation 
of God’s Israel through all the long period of her 
earthly sojourn, in spite of all persecutions and assaults 
of the enemy. And, of course, to us in our day it is easy 
to see the wisdom of God in concealing the actual length 
of the woman’s stay in the wilderness, while making it 
clear that it is of measured length, not to be exceeded 
by a single day. This wilderness experience is a neces- 
sary one, not only for the people of God collectively, 
but for each individual. It answers the same purpose as 
the sojourn of the Israelites for forty years before they 
were permitted to occupy the promised land. More- 
over, the flight of the typical mother of Christ has a 
parallel in that of the real mother of the child Jesus 
into Egypt. 

We have an illustration of God’s care for His people 
during their wilderness experience in the case of Hagar 
in the wilderness of Beersheba, where God made 
special provision for her and her child (Gen. 21: 
14-20). 

And now we come to a matter of transcendent im- 
portance. 





370 The Patmos Visions 


THE WAR IN HEAVEN 


‘“‘And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought 
against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and 
prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. 
And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the 
Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast 
out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” 


(vv. 7-9). 

The fact that the ascension of Christ to the throne 
of God is that event in His history which is singled out 
for mention in this vision, gives an indication both as 
to the time, and also as to the cause of this war in 
heaven. For surely, nothing we know or can conceive 
of could be more provocative to the Devil and his 
hosts than the exaltation to the throne of God of Him 
who had just gained by His cross the victory over the 
powers of death and hell. It is recorded that, when 
Jesus Christ went into heaven, and took His place at 
the right hand of God, “angels, and authorities, and 
powers’ were “‘made subject unto Him” (1 Pet. 3:22). 
That was the moment, therefore, for the revolt of the 
angels, seeing that the Devil and his associated powers 
and principalities refused to be ‘‘made subject unto 
Him”. But we have something better than inference 
to fix the time, and to reveal the cause of that terrific 
war in heaven, which resulted in the Devil’s being cast 
out into the earth, and his angels with him. The words 
of the Lord Jesus, recorded in John 12 :31-33, put the 
matter beyond all doubt in my opinion, especially when 
all the circumstances—the frenzy of the excited multi- 


RES CP SESE SE ESE ST ESE ESSE TS SSS SE OSS SET ERECT 


The Two Signs in Heaven 371 


tudes gathering to Jerusalem for the Passover; the 
general expectation caused by the miracle of the raising 
of Lazarus, that Christ was about to proclaim Himself 
their King, and set up a kingdom answering to their 
carnal thoughts; and the desire of the Greeks to see 
Him who was the cause of all the frantic enthusiasm— 
are taken into consideration. ‘These are the words, 
recorded in John 12 :31-33: 


“Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of 
this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, 
will draw all men unto Me”. 


Three things the Lord here mentions as _ being 
“now” about to happen, namely (1) the judgment of 
this world, (2) the casting out of the prince of this 
world, (3) the drawing of all men (i. e., men of all 
nations and classes) to Himself, as a result of His 
being lifted up to die on the cross. This fixes the time 
when Satan is “‘cast out’? of heaven; for it is here ex- 
pressly declared to be contemporaneous with the era 
when Christ is drawing to Himself men out of all 
nations and classes. he word “now” must mean the 
same in both clauses. 

The title here given to the Devil, that is, “the 
prince of this world”, is highly significant, for it agrees 
with the symbol of the seven crowned heads (signifying 
the complete sovereignty) of the dragon seen by John 
(who also recorded these words of Christ). Hence the 
words, ‘‘Now shall the prince of this world be cast 
out’’; serve to locate the time of the war in heaven, as 





372 The Patmos Visions 


the result of which the great dragon was ‘‘cast out’. 
The title given him in Revelation 12:9 is fourfold: the 
Dragon, the Serpent, the Devil and Satan; the four 
being the numerical symbol of the entire compass of the 
world. So the words, “which deceiveth the whole 
earth’, are in perfect agreement. [To my mind this 
Scripture (John 12:31-33), in connection with what 
has been already cited, affords ample proof that the 
war in heaven, which eventuated in Satan’s being 
‘cast out’’, took place soon after thé ascension of the 
Lord Jesus Christ into heaven. But, as will appear 
later on, there is further proof to be offered by way of 
corroboration; whereas, on the other hand, I know of 
nothing to support the idea that the event here de- 
scribed is yet future. ‘The expression ‘‘a short time’, 
which occurs in verse 12, is not opposed to the view 
we are advancing; for that expression is applicable to 
this present age, during which the coming again of the 
Lord Jesus has been always viewed as imminent. Now 
history records the ‘“‘great fury” of Satan against the 
people of God, and his bloody persecutions in the early 
days, which agrees perfectly with what is stated in 
verses 12 and 13, and affords further proof that the 
war in heaven and the casting out of the Devil took 
place at the beginning of our era. But as the age 
lengthened itself out, and as it became evident that 
persecutions did but promote the extension of the 
Kingdom of God, the Devil changed his tactics, and 
resorted to other and more subtle methods. This 
change of procedure on the part of the Adversary is 








The Two Signs in Heaven 373 





clearly foreshown in this Scripture, as will be pointed 
out when we reach verses 15, 16. 

‘From the closely related prophecy of Daniel 12:7 
we learn that Michael is “the great prince that standeth 
up for the people of Israel”. So it is quite in keeping 
with what had been revealed to Daniel that we should 
here find Michael standing up for the Israel of God 
against her adversary. In Jude 9 is another illuminat- 
ing statement. Speaking of those who despise do- 
minion and speak evil of dignities, the apostle says: 
“Yet Michael the archangel, when, contending with 
the Devil, he disputed about the body of Moses, durst 
not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, 
The Lord rebuke thee”. This tells us that Michael is 
‘‘the archangel’, the only angelic being of that exalted 
rank; and it also shows that the Devil is even higher 
in dignity than he, though a rebel against God. It is 
impossible, I think, in view of this Scripture to main- 
tain, as some excellent commentators seek to do, that 
“Michael” is one of the names of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. The passage tells us also that it was no new 
thing for Michael to contend with the Devil, though 
in the case of the body of Moses it was a verbal dis- 
pute only, the word rendered ‘‘disputed’’ meaning to 
argue, or reason, or dispute in words. Further it tells 
us that the Devil, who has ‘‘the power of death” (Heb. 
2:14), jealously keeps the bodies of the dead. The 
Lord had need of the body of Moses (and his bodily 
appearance on the mount of Transfiguration along 
with Elijah, who had been taken bodily to heaven, may 





374. The Patmos Visions 


explain the reason); and therefore to Michael, the 
archangel, was entrusted the mission of bringing it 
from the grave. And this is in keeping with the only 
other passage where the archangel is mentioned, 1 
Thessalonians 4:16. For there, when all the dead in 
Christ are to be brought out of their graves, ‘‘the 
voice of the archangel” is heard, along with “the trump 
of God”’. 

Zechariah 3:1-5 gives further light as to the subject 
of the great controversy between God and Satan. It 
is in regard to the sinfulness of those whom God would 
save out of the Devil’s kingdom; for sin is what gives 
the Devil his claim to the possession of man. In this 
vision, Joshua is a type of every saved person. He 
stands before the Lord clad in filthy garments; and 
the command is given to those that stood before Him, 
“Take away the filthy garments from him’’; while to 
Joshua himself he says, “I have caused thine iniquity 
to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of 
raiment”. ‘The work of the cross is clearly implied in 
this scene, where one by nature a sinner, though by 
rank the high priest, is divested of his filthy garments 
of mere human righteousness, and is clothed with the 
garments of God’s righteousness and salvation. But 
the main feaure of this scene is that Satan stands at the 
right hand of the angel of the Lord to resist him, i. e. 
‘to be his adversary’ (marg.). So here is plainly 
shown the ground of Satan’s opposition to God; and 
from it we may clearly understand the nature of 
Christ’s victory over Satan at the cross, since thereby 





The Two Signs in Heaven 375 


He silenced the accusations of the Adversary against 
every one who takes shelter under His cross. It is very 
significant that in this passage again the words are 
spoken (this time by the Lord Himself), ‘“The Lord 
rebuke thee, O Satan’’. 


THE RESULT OF THE WAR IN HEAVEN 


This brings us to a matter of prime importance; 
namely, the immediate result of the war in heaven. As 
stated in the text: ‘And the dragon fought, and his 
angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found 
any more in heaven. And the great dragon . . . was 
cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out 
with him’’. It wasa crushing defeat, which nothing but 
the cross could have inflicted upon the prince of this 
world. “Its (the world’s) power’, says Lucke, ‘“‘is 
immediately judged, condemned, and broken in its 
head”; in proof whereof he cites the words of Christ, 
spoken in direct connection with His approaching 
death on the cross, “‘Now is the judgment of this world, 
now shall the prince of this world be cast out”. The 
Old Testament shows us (Job. 1:6; 2:1; Zech. 3:1) 
that in those days before the cross, Satan had free 
access to the courts of heaven. But how could it be so 
after the work of atonement was finished? How 
could the accuser, that old serpent, raise his head, and 
open his mouth, or even present himself before the 
slain Lamb upon the throne? ‘Who shall now lay 
anything to the charge of God’s elect?” ‘The apostle 
asks this challenging question in a passage that is ex- 





370 The Patmos Visions 


uberant with the triumph of the cross. Where have 
we in the New Testament a word to support the idea 
(apparently a product of very modern theology) that 
Satan still appears before the throne of God, as the 
accuser of the brethren? ‘he New Testament Scrip- 
tures place him on earth. “Your adversary the devil, 
as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may 
devour’ (1 Pet. 5:8). And that is in perfect agree- 
ment with the vision before us, in which the Devil and 
his hosts are “‘cast out into the earth’’, and he goes to 
make war with the remnant of the woman’s seed, who 
keep the commandments of God, and have the testi- 
mony of Jesus Christ (v. 17). This certainly is the 
state of things in this present dispensation. It is a 
great and serious error to refer it to a future day. 
Furthermore, the crushing defeat inflicted upon the 
great dragon, and his expulsion from heaven, means 
that his power is broken, though his ‘“‘wrath” (v. 12) 
and his will to do evil remain. For Christ took part of 
flesh and blood “‘that through death He might destroy 
him that had the power of death, that is the devil’ 
(Heb. 2:14). This breaking of the Devil’s power was 
by the death of Christ. Not without serious harm to 
the truth can it be deferred to a future day. For by the 
the cross of Christ, “forgiveness of sin has been ob- 
tained, and thus Satan’s most formidable weapon has 
been wrenched out of his hands’ (Hengstenberg). 
Therefore, in the New Testament, we are not only 
plainly told that Satan is already a conquered foe, 
“cast out’’, of heaven, that is, deprived of his authority 


ec err nS ag ROR eR SSAC SO PALTRY 2A DS SE ARTETA 
The Two Signs in Heaven 377 


over those whose citizenship is in heaven (see verse 
12), but are also told to “resist the devil, and he will 
flee from you” (Jam. 4:7). This could not be apart 
from Christ’s victory on Calvary; but now that the 
victory has been won, it could not otherwise. 

In keeping with this are the words of 1 Corinthians 
15 :56-58, which is part of a passage wherein the fruits 
of Christ’s death and resurrection are set forth. We 
recall the words: ‘““The sting of death 1s sin: and the 
strength of sin is the law’’, which righteously demanded 
the death of the sinner. ‘‘BuT thanks be to God, who 
giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ’. 
Here is victory for us now over the power of sin, and | 
deliverance from the condemnation of the law 
“through our Lord Jesus Christ’. That victory be- 
came available for the people of God from the time of 
the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and because thereof; 
for God “giveth” it (present tense) ; and simple faith 
can claim it now. Let us therefore shun all teaching 
that defers to a future day the casting out of Satan 
from his place of high authority in heaven. 

Finally as to this important matter, I would again 
call attention to that grand passage, Romans 8:31, 
which begins with the significant question, “If God be 
for us, who can be against us?” What adversary can 
stand against, or prevail over us? The express ground 
of the apostle’s assurance is that He who spared not 
His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, will with 





378 | The Patmos Visions 


Him also freely give us all things (v. 32). And that 
the Devil is specially in view is evident from the ques- 
tion, ‘‘Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s 
elect?’ (v. 33), and also from the reference to angels, 
principalities and powers (v. 38). The question has 
_the force of a strong assertion that none can bring any 
accusation against the elect of God, and this for the 
express reason that “It is God that justifieth” (v. 33). 
But more than this, we are further reminded that ‘“‘It 
is Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again, who 
is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh inter- 
cession for us” (v. 34); and this effectually excludes 
Satan from the presence of God. What then are the 
immediate consequences of all this to us, even in the 
greatest ‘‘tribulation, or distress, or persecution” (vv. 
35, 36) that the Devil can bring upon us? The answer 
is that “‘in all these things we are more than conquerors, 
through Him that loved us’. ‘These Scriptures, there- 
fore, declare in the strongest terms that Satan no 
longer has the upper hand; that he is cast out of his 
former place of authority; and that, through the knowl- 
edge of this great truth, the feeblest saint can be more 
than a conqueror over all the principalities, powers, 
and hosts of wickedness. I say, “through the knowl- 
edge of this truth’; for obviously we must know the | 
effect of the cross in nullifying the power of Satan, else 
we cannot by faith avail ourselves of the benefits 
thereof. _ 





The Two Signs in Heaven 379 





THE Loup VoICcE IN HEAVEN 


“And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come 
salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the 
power of His Christ; for the accuser of our brethren is cast 
down, which accused them before our God day and night. And 
they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word 
of their testimony ; and they loved not their lives unto the death. 
Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe 
to the inhabiters of the earth, and of the sea! for the devil is 
come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth 
that he hath but a short time” (vv. 10-12). 


The statements made by this loud voice in heaven 
should be noted with care, for thereby further and very 
clear light is given as to the time when the war in 
heaven and the casting out of Satan took place. From 
these statements we learn that those important events 
took place when “‘salvation”’ came (and there can be no 
doubt as to when that was), and “strength” from 
heaven (“ye shall receive power’’), and “the kingdom 
of our God’’, which Peter proclaimed at Pentecost, 
when he used the “keys” thereof to open it to those 
who received the gospel; and “the power of His 
Christ’, which was after His resurrection, when all 
power was given Him in heaven and on earth (Mat. 
28:18). Then it was that the accuser of the brethren 
was cast down, who previously had accused them be- 
fore our God day and night. And specially clear are 
the next words, which declare the ground and the 
means of victory over the great Adversary, namely, 
“the blood of the Lamb, and the word of their testi- 
mony”. When once it is perceived that the casting out 





380 The Patmos Visions 


of Satan here recorded was coincident with the era 
wherein the people of God have overcome by the blood 
of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, all 
question as to the time of that event is removed. In 
full agreement with this is the word of this same John, 
‘I write unto you, young men, because ye have over- 
come the wicked one. ... I have written unto you, 
young men, because ye are strong, and the word of 
God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked 
one” (1 J. 2:13, 14). The blood of the Lamb is what 
gives the victory; and the word of testimony, which is 
the confession of faith in the risen Christ of God 
upon His throne, is the weapon that the individual saint 
uses, and all he néeds, in his conflict with the conquered 
foe. “Resist the Devil” with that weapon, and he will 
not stay to fight; ‘‘he will flee from you”. 

Verse 12 contains a call to rejoice, addressed to the 
heavens and them that dwell in them. This is grounded 
on what precedes, as shown by the connecting word, 
‘therefore’. The expression “they that dwell (or 
tabernacle in them”’ (the heavens) is not to be referred 
to the angels, or to the holy dead; for according to the 
New Testament way of speaking, the people of God 
are viewed as even now dwelling in heaven, their citi- 
zenship being there, and they being taught to regard 
themselves as “‘strangers and pilgrims on earth’’. It is 
said of them that they are raised up and seated to- 
gether in heavenly places in Christ Jesus’ (Eph. 2:6), 
and that already they “‘are come to Mount Zion, and 
to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem”’ 





The Two Signs in Heaven 381 





(Heb. 12:22). ‘Therefore, those here spoken of as 
they that dwell in the heavens are a class that is in 
contrast with the other class designated as ‘“‘the in- 
habiters of the earth and of the sea’, upon whom a 
woe is pronounced, because the Devil is come down 
unto them, having great wrath, because he knoweth 
that he hath but a short time’. 


THE DRAGON PERSECUTING THE WOMAN 


The scene now shifts back again to the earth; for at 
verse 13 we read: 


“And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, 
he persecuted the woman which brought forth the Man child”. 


Here again is a statement which confirms the view 
that we have in this chapter a prophetic picture of the 
present dispensation; for it agrees perfectly with what 
history records of the activities of the Devil in the 
early part of the Christian era, and from time to time 
since. The story of the Israel of God from the begin- 
ning, and for long stretches of time, has been one of 
persecution; first from the Jews, then from imperial 
Rome, and lastly from Papal Rome, all those per- 
secuting agencies being, of course, the instruments of 
the Devil. The object of all this malignant and bloody 
persecution was “the woman which brought forth the 
Man child”; and this goes to show the continuity of the 
company of God’s people from century to century. It 
goes to show also that ‘‘the reproach of Christ”’ (which 





382 The Patmos Visions 


was known even in the days of Moses, Heb. 11:26) is 
ever the outcome of Satan’s animosity. 

Persecution, as an experience of the saints of God, 
dates from the early days of the Christian era. The 
Jews had been oppressed from time to time—not how- 
ever because of faithfulness to the Lord, but the re- 
verse—but there had been nothing in their history that 
could be described as “persecution”. But soon after 
Christ ascended into heaven, the persecution of His 
people began. Saul of Tarsus was a leader in it, as he 
says in several places, “I persecuted the church of 
God” (1 Cor. 15:9). ‘This again helps establish the 
time of this part of the vision. 

Apparently the persecutions of the enemy have 
ceased in our day, and indeed for some centuries prior 
thereto. But it must not be supposed that the Devil’s 
animosity towards the people of God is in anywise 
abated. He has learned, however, that persecutions 
do not accomplish the purpose of blotting out the 
testimony of the gospel, but rather the reverse. There- 
fore, he has wisely changed his tactics, and adopted 
other methods. ‘This too was foreshown in the vision 
we are now studying, as will be seen shortly. 


THE WOMAN IN THE WILDERNESS 
Revelation 12:14 


‘And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, 
that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she 
is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the 
face of the serpent” (v. 14). 


Verse 14 resumes the course of the narrative where 


The Two Signs in Heaven 383 


it was interrupted at verse 6. For this vision embraces 
both sides of creation, showing events that were to take 
place simultaneously, some on the heavenly and some 
on the earthly side of things. 

What is now added to the statement of verse 6 is 
that to the woman there were given two wings of a 
great eagle, that thereby she might fly into the place 
prepared for her in the wilderness. This speaks of 
divine help given the people of God to escape from 
their enemies, Satan’s persecuting agents; and also of 
divine provision made for them during their sojourn 
in the enemy’s country. ‘There is much comfort in 
this, of which, however, if the passage be referred to a 
future dispensation, we lose the benefit. The signifi- 
cance of the eagle’s wings becomes evident in the light 
of two passages in the Old Testament. The first is in 
Exodus 19:4, where God, speaking to the Israelites 
through Moses, says: ‘‘Ye have seen what I did unto 
the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, 
and brought you unto Myself”. This was said of the 
people whose experiences were the Divinely ordained 
types and foreshadowing of the experiences of God’s 
New Covenant people. Hence we should expect 
Divine interventions on behalf of the latter of just the 
sort which answer to the figurative expressions of 
Revelation 12:14. 

The second is the following beautiful passage in 
Deuteronomy 32:10, 11: 


384 The Patmos Visions 


“He found him (Jacob) in the desert land and in the waste 
howling wilderness. He led him about; He instructed him; 
He kept him as the apple of His eye. As an eagle stirreth up 
her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, 
taketh them, beareth them on her wings; so the Lord alone did 
lead him”’. 


Also from Isaiah 40:31 we get the thought that the 
eagle’s wings are the symbol of soaring strength and 
swiftness. ! 

Particularly at the time of the destruction of Jeru- 
salem and the desolation of Judea, the company of be- 
lievers was furnished, so to speak, with the wings of a 
great eagle, whereby they were enabled to fly for 
safety far and wide “‘into the wilderness” of this world. 

Other instances of this sort are recorded in the long 
and eventful history of the Kingdom of God; but it 
will suffice for our present purpose to recall that, in 
comparatively recent times, when the fires of persecu- 
tion waxed hot in Europe, God provided a refuge 
where His people might. be nourished from the face 
of the serpent in the “wilderness” of the Western 
Hemisphere, and that He supplied them with means to 
escape thither (eagles’ wings). 

A CHANGE OF TACTICS 


The next verse (15) indicates that, when the 
Dragon failed to accomplish his purpose of destroying 
the people of God and their testimony through vio- 
lence, he adopted another method of attack. ‘The 
verse reads: 


SRR SESE PS RS SETS REDS SSSR OSE SEE ES SS NR EE ES PY TTS 7 SEEPS EE SET 


The Two Signs in Heaven 385 


“‘And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after 
the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the 


flood”’. 


This picture is very significant. ‘he figure of a 
flood is used in the Scriptures to represent overwhelm- 
ing powers of destruction poured forth (Psa. 90:5; 
Dane -2on esa (24245 eer 472) yin ktsi a most 
suitable figure, therefore, to picture the stupendous 
efforts put forth by the enemy to sweep away the people 
of God and their testimony by pouring forth a ‘“‘flood”’ 
of heresies and false doctrines, such as gnosticism, 
pagan philosophy, and corrupted Judaism, in the early 
centuries, and Russellism, Spiritism, Christian Science, 
Modernism, Higher Criticism, and the like, in recent 
times. The statement that this ‘flood’? was poured 
out of the mouth of the dragon clearly indicates that 
the figure symbolizes an eruption of false doctrines. 
For as the doctrine of Christ proceeds out of His 
mouth (Mat. 5:2) so it would be appropriate to 
represent Satanic doctrines as proceeding out of the 
dragon’s mouth. 

Such is the present method of Satanic attack; for 
there have been no violent or bloody persecutions of 
the saints of God for several centuries, but on the other 
hand these days are marked by a great outpouring of 
false teachings, and by the distressing fact that errors 
which, not long ago, were recognized by all as being 
antichristian, now flourish unrebuked within groups 
and circles once professedly sound and orthodox. So 
disastrous is the effect of this recent change within the 





386 The Patmos Vistons 


various denominational bodies of Protestant Christen- 
dom, that the work of the gospel in pagan lands is 
well nigh paralyzed. To the intelligent heathen, like 
the Chinese, Japanese, and Mohammedans, “Chris- 
tianity”’ is synonymous with western civilization. But 
to them western civilization is the breeder of ruinous 
wars, the parent of grasping commercialism, or rapa- 
cious covetousness, and of the very worst species of 
vice and debauchery. ‘Christian’? England debauches 
the Chinese in the interest of the opium trade, and 
“Christian” America sells liquor to the Mohamme- 
dans, thus giving ground for the bitter gibe recently 
uttered by a Turkish statesman, who said, ‘‘America 
sends us spiritual and spiritous commodities, which we 
do not want’. With pain it must be acknowledged 
the true Christianity 1s almost submerged in a ‘“‘flood”’ 
of doctrines, which are essentially antichristian and 
spurious—far worse, indeed, than paganism. 

But we are not to suppose that the enemy has per- 
manently abandoned the ancient method of violence 
and persecution; for there may be another outbreak 
of that sort at any time. God has no doubt suppressed 
violent and bloody opposition to the gospel during the 
past century to the end that the various nations of earth 
might be evangelized, according to His plan (Mat. 
24:14; Acts 1:8). Meanwhile the Devil’s lust for 
blood finds ample gratification in the wars which 
‘Christian’ nations wage against each other; and he has 
reason to exult exceedingly in the part which ‘“‘Chris- 
tian” churches and “‘Christian” ministers take therein. 


The Two Signs in Heaven 387 


The next verse (16) says: “And the earth helped 
the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swal- 
lowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his 
mouth”. We regard this as a reference to the dis- 
appearance of many of those heresies (such as those 
against which Paul wrote in Colossians) which in the 
early days flooded the countries where the gospel was 
first preached. ‘They have been swallowed up, so to 
speak, as if buried in the earth. Here again we must 
recognize a Divine intervention to prevent the testi- 
money of His few and feeble people from being com- 
pletely submerged and swept away. Just what will be 
the result of the present outpourings of false teachings, 
destructive heresies, doctrines of demons, and the like, 
we cannot say definitely. But we have the assurance 
that God will be with His people, and will afford them 
all needful help and protection, until the moment comes 
for them to be taken out of the world (1 Thess. 4: 
14-17). 


WAR WITH THE REMNANT OF THE WOMAN’S SEED 


We come now to the last verse of the chapter. It 
speaks of another change of tactics on the part of the 
enemy. The verse reads: 

“And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to 
make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the com- 
mandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” 


(Rev. 12:17). 


The “enmity” decreed in Genesis 3:15 was to be 
between the serpent and the woman, and between its 





388 The Patmos Visions 


seed and her seed. It might seem that in the sense of 
the verse last quoted we could not make a distinction 
between the woman and her seed. But the meaning 
can be readily understood in the light of the fact that 
the Scriptures of the prophets frequently speak of 
Israel or Zion as a woman, and of individual Israelites 
as the ‘“‘children” of Israel, or Zion (see Isa. 54:13). 
So here we take the woman to represent, throughout 
the chapter, the “holy nation”, the Israel of God, 
composed of all the saints on earth at any one time, 
and “the remnant of her seed”’ to be the comparatively 
few individual believers who are left to bear testimony 
to the truth in the last days. 

For the chapter gives a very rapid survey of the 
progress of the Divinely decreed ‘‘enmity”’ between the 
serpent and the woman; and the last verse indicates 
that the Adversary, having failed to extinguish the 
light of Christianity by means of his “‘flood”’ of satanic 
heresies and doctrines of demons (1 Tim. 4:1), now 
puts forth his mighty powers for a last supreme effort 
against the purpose of God. 

The main design of the vision of Chapter XII is 
seemingly to conduct us rapidly to the very last stage 
of the great conflict, which is presented by the vision 
of the two wild beasts of Chapter XIII, supplemented 
as to important details by subsequent visions. For 
whereas each scene in Chapter XII is described with 
greatest brevity, and long eras of time are compressed 
into a few sentences, when we come to Chapter XIII, 
the description becomes detailed and specific. This 





The Two Signs in Heaven 389 


shows that what went before was simply leading up to 
this scene, and was given in order that this picture of 
the last phase of satanic opposition to God’s purpose 
with respect to the Kingdoms of this world, might be 
set before us in its true relation to all the great events 
of human history from the very beginning of time. 
The last verse defines the Lord’s people as those 
who “keep the commandments of God, and have the 
testimony of Jesus Christ’. The first part of this 
definition is very significant, as showing what God ex- 
pects in His redeemed people, and what should dis- 
tinguish them in the last days, which are specially to 
be characterized by lawlessness (11:3). Those who 
“obey the gospel” are the “children of obedience’’; 
that is to say, they obey from the heart that pattern of 
doctrine which has been delivered to them in the N. T. 
Scriptures, and they serve God in a new and willing 
spirit (Rom. 6:17; 7:6). ‘This is not to be taken in 
the strictest sense, as if there were any, even among 
the most devoted servants of God, in whom He saw 
no faults. But on the other hand, it is certain that 
among the changes wrought in those who receive the 
néw birth, there comes the spirit of obedience, taking 
the form of a desire to do the will of Him who has 
called them unto His eternal kingdom and glory. 


CHAPTER IX 


The Vision of the Two Wild Beasts 


‘‘And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up 
out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns,. and upon his 
horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. 
And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet 
were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: 
and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great 
authority ’. : 


ET it be remembered that what is now to be 
shown us are the various phases of the last stage 
of the conflict between God and Satan, whereof 

the outcome was announced in the words of the great 
voices in heaven: ‘“The kingdoms of this world are be- 
come the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ” 
(11:15). We have already had pictured to us one 
of the actors in that final scene, the great red dragon. 
The chapter to which we are now come brings two 
other prominent actors into view, the ten-horned beast 
that arose out of the sea (v. 1) and the two-horned 
beast that arose out of the earth (v.11). The first 
of these beasts appears again in Chapter XVII, where 
a woman arrayed in purple and scarlet, and lavishly 
adorned with gold and jewels, is seen seated upon it. 
(Note the contrast between this woman and the 
woman clothed with the sun of Chapter 12:7). The 
beast is mentioned again in Chapter XIX, in associa- 
tion with “the false prophet’’, which the text clearly 


390 





The Vision of the Two Wild Beasts 391 


identifies with the second or two-horned beast. ‘These 
are here associated also with “the kings of the earth 
and their armies’’, who are gathered together for the 
last battle against Christ and the armies of heaven, the 
outcome of which is that both the beast and the false 
prophet are taken, and are cast alive into a lake of 
fire, burning with brimstone (19:19-21). From this 
it is clear that the history of these two beasts, as pic- 
tured in the visions of the Apocalypse, extends to the 
nineteenth chapter; and that at the end of that chapter 
is given the picture of the very last struggle in the long 
conflict, whereof the issue was announced by the great 
voices in heaven. ‘These preliminary remarks will in- 
form the reader of the general subject of these chap- 
ters, and prepare his mind for an examination of their 
contents in detail. 

In the light of Scripture, particularly that of the 
fundamental prophecy of Daniel VII, wild beasts are 
the symbols of great world empires, or rather, of the 
governmental systems thereof. ‘These may differ 
among themselves, much as wild beasts differ from 
one another in minor respects, though they are all of 
the same nature. he appropriateness of this symbol 
lies not in any “‘beastliness’’ inherent in the chief gov- 
ernments of the world; but in characteristics of quite 
a different sort, as strength, courage, ferocity, agility, 
crushing power, and the like. ‘The wild beasts of 
Daniel’s prophecy, as well as those of the one now 
before us, were the lion, the bear, the leopard (or 
panther), and a fourth beast of nondescript character, 


Le SPS Sa OS TET SESE DRT EB YS TSE ERE BEETS EOE OE TREY TEESE, 


392 The Patmos Visions 


not found in the realm of nature. The three that are 
named are beasts whose character is noble rather than 
despicable. But what most prominently characterizes 
all the beasts of the earth, as distinguished from men 
outwardly, is their downward look, suggesting a mind 
that is wholly engrossed by the things of earth. Such 
are characteristically “‘the kingdoms of this world’’. 

The first beast seen by John is a composite symbol, 
for it combines in the one creature the features of the 
four beasts which came successively into view in Dan- 
iel’s vision. ‘This quite plainly indicates that it sym- 
bolizes the ungodly governmental power of the world 
in general. It presents in one figure a summary view 
of the whole of beast government in its main stages, 
from the beginning of Gentile history down to the end 
of time. It is important that this be kept in mind in 
the study of these last visions. 

Hengstenberg puts the matter clearly, saying: 


‘The arrangement of the section before us is the following: 
We are presented first (Chap. 13:1, 2) with a full delineation 
of the enemy, in which his past, present and future history are 
brought together precisely as in the case of the first enemy (the 
dragon). Respect is had to the past, in order to set the present 
in its true light. ‘The prophet sees a beast with seven heads and 
ten horns rise out of the sea, to which the dragon gives his 
strength, and his throne, and great power. Under this symbol 
is represented the God-opposing power of this world in its seven 
phases, the seven being again subdivided”. He also refers to the 
fact that whereas in the prophecy of Daniel VII “the plurality 
of the world powers is exhibited by a succession of different 
beasts, here only one beast appears on the scene, combining the 
properties of all the beasts of Daniel’. 





‘The Vision of the Two Wild Beasts 393 


Attention should be given to the statement that the 
dragon gave to this beast his power, and his seat 
(throne), and great authority. ‘That is to say, this 


beast receives from Satan what Christ refused to ac- « 


cept from him, when the tempter offered Him all the 
kingdoms of this world, and the glory of them (Mat. 
4 :8-10). 

These beast governments serve a useful, indeed an 
indispensable, purpose to society in general; for with- 
out a system of government, strong enough to com- 
mand respect both at home and abroad, the condition 
of the people would be one of intolerable misery. It 
would be a state of anarchy. On the other hand, they 
accomplish the purposes of God in the chastisement of 
the nations that have refused obedience to His an- 
ointed King. ‘This purpose of God is seen in such pas- 
sages as Jeremiah 5:6, where, in warning the people 
of Israel of the punishments He would bring upon 
them, He said: ‘‘Wherefore a lion out of the forest 
shall slay them, and a wo/f of the deserts shall spoil 
them, a /eopard shall watch over their cities; . . . be- 
cause their transgressions are many and their back- 
slidings are increased’”’. ‘This punishment:came speed- 
ily upon them; for they were soon thereafter delivered 
over to the Babylonian Empire, which is pictured in 
Daniel’s prophecy as a lion; and now they are under 
the various forms of beast government that exist in 
the world. 

As regards the circumstance that this first beast 
arose out of the sea (whereas the other arose out of 


394. The Patmos Visions 


the earth) I would recall that the sea is a symbol of 
the restless nations in general (17:15). It suggests 
“the restless, stirring agitation that characterizes all 
that are out of God’s kingdom” (Havernick). The 
symbol conveys the idea of the multitudinous nations 
of earth (“peoples and multitudes’) and also their 
perpetual wnrest. For “there is no peace to the wicked”’; 
they are like ‘the troubled sea when it cannot rest”’ 
(Isae 57:20)". 

For the purpose of viewing this new scene, John is 
placed in a new position: ‘‘And I stood upon the sand 
of the sea”. Another reading, equally well supported 
as that of the A. V., has “he (the dragon) stood”. 
But I conclude with Hengstenberg that “the internal 
grounds are in favor of John’s being the subject of the 
discourse’. There is no question but that the verb 
‘saw’ has John for its subject. Therefore, there must 
have been a change of position on the part of the seer. 
This view has also the support of the analogous vision 
of Daniel, who says, ‘‘And I saw in a vision, and I was 
by the river Ulai” (8:2); and again, “I was by the 
side of the great river, ... then I lifted up mine eyes 
and looked’ (10:4). 

The phrase ‘sand of the sea”’ is not used in Scrip- 
ture to describe the shore of the sea, but to convey 
the idea of an enormous multitude of people (Gen. 
22:17; 41:49; Judg. 7:12; 1 K. 4:20: Job 29:18; Ps. 

DOHA LE Yer. 30 sae seeds il aic hoy seLcmnetce) = thas line 
sand is specified here because it suggests the thought 
of the innumerable multitude of the inhabitants of the 








The Vision of the Two Wild Beasts 395 


earth over whom the beast was to exert an influence”’ 
(Hengstenberg). 

The prophecy of Isaiah 27:1 has a direct applica- 
tion here: ‘In that day the Lord, with His sore and 
great and strong sword, will punish Jeviathan the slant 
serpent, and leviathan the tortuous serpent; and He 
will slay the dragon that is in the sea’ (Jewish V.). 
It is “that day” of the punishment of this leviathan of 
the sea, who is here also identified with the serpent, 
and the dragon, to which this present vision brings us. 
We must be careful to observe, however, that, as the 
manner of the Book is, we are first taken back to the 
time past, and are shown the origin of Gentile world- 
government, even as Daniel saw it in his day, arising 
out of the sea, figuratively speaking; and from that 
point are led rapidly to the last scene of all in the his- 
tory of the beast, which it is the main purpose of the 
vision to reveal. Hengstenberg puts the matter clearly 
when he says: 


“What in reality has existed already for a long time, may be 
seen in vision rising into existence as it were anew, if the object 
is to give a summary view of the whole manifestation. Thus, 
the first of the four beasts which Daniel saw in the act of rising 
out of the sea, denotes a kingdom (the Chaldean) which had 
in fact for a long time already occupied a place upon the stage 
of history. “True it is that the past as such is not the subject 
of what is testified in the Revelation; but that it may neverthe- 
less be drawn into the sphere embraced by the vision, on account 


of its connection with the present and the future, is abundantly 
plain from Chapter XII’. 





396 The Patmos Visions 


The purpose of the visions of this present group 
clearly is to exhibit the final form and the very end of 
‘the mystery of iniquity’, which here is presented in 
the completeness of its embodiment in that trinity of 
evil, the dragon, the beast out of the sea, and the 
beast out of the earth. But the apostle Paul in his 
day made it known that the mystery of iniquity was 
already working, and that it would continue to work 
until a time when “that Wicked one’ should be re- 
vealed, ‘“‘whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit 
of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness 
of, His’. coming’? (2) Thess.’ 2):7, 8; cf. Rev. 19:15; 
PAU IAN 

In John’s vision the beasts forming the composite 
symbol are named in the reverse order to that in which 
they successively appeared to Daniel. To the latter 
the ten-horned monster (Rome) was the last of the 
four. But in John’s vision it is the first; and then is 
named the leopard (Greece), then the bear (Medo- 
Persia), and lastly the lion (Babylon), which in Dan- 
iel’s vision was the first. A simple explanation of this 
reversal of the order of the beasts suggests itself in 
the fact that whereas Daniel viewed the picture of 
world-government from the time of the dominion of 
the lion, in which he lived, and thence as stretching off 
into the future, John on the contrary viewed it in the 
period of the fourth beast, and thence as stretching 
backward in time to the days of Babylon. Thus Dan- 
iel’s fourth beast, which to him was in the distant fu- 
ture, has now, in John’s day, come into the foreground; 





‘The Vision of the Two Wild Beasts 397 


and the dominion of Babylon, present in Daniel’s day, 
has receded into the distant past. In other words, the 
beast that was nearest to Daniel was furthest from 
John, and vice versa. 

The Heads and the Horns. The first feature of 
this beast to which attention is directed is that it had 
seven heads and ten horns. The heads represent the 
successive phases assumed by the Gentile world-gov- 
ernment from the beginning of history to the end. 
That is to say, the succession of world governments, 
which was represented in Daniel’s vision by four beasts 
that appeared one after the other, is here represented 
by the seven heads. The proof of this will be shown 
presently; but it is desirable that first the thought be 
clearly grasped. ‘The succession of world empires, one 
following and displacing another, could not be shown 
by a succession of beasts in this vision, for Gentile 
world government as a whole is here pictured by a 
single beast of composite character. But that fact of 
succession is too important to be omitted, and there- 
fore other symbols must be used to express it. And 
not only so, but whereas Daniel’s vision was concerned 
with only the four Gentile powers that were to have 
dominion successively over his people (the Jews), the 
design of the present vision is to show the totality of 
Gentile government; and hence the seven heads, seven 
being the signature of completeness. 

An analogy is presented by the vision of the colossal 
metallic figure described in Daniel II. There the four 
empires which were to figure in the history of Israel 





398 The Patmos Visions 


from that day on to its overthrow as a nation, were 
all represented in a single image, as here in a single 
beast. So that, as the eye traversed the image from 
head to foot, it surveyed the several empires that were 
to follow one another in the years to come; and so 
likewise in John’s vision, as the eye passes from one 
of the seven heads to another, it surveys Gentile world 
dominion from its beginning to its end. 

Two points are to be noted ere we pass on: First, 
we are not to think of the beast as having seven heads 
all at the same time; for while they are seen all at 
once, even as the several parts of Nebuchadnezzar’s 
image were seen all at once, the kingdoms which they 
severally represent succeeded each other in history. 
Second, it follows that the ten horns all appertain to 
the last head; for they do all exist at the same time, 
as appears from Chapter 17:12, 16. 

Now for the meaning of the seven heads, we turn to 
Chapter 17:9-11, which reads as follows: 


“And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads 
are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there 
are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not 
yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. 
And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is 
of the seven, and goeth into perdition” (vv. 9-11). 


The matter here presented is one calling for the ex- 
ercise of spiritual discernment, as is evident from the 
words, “Here is the mind that hath wisdom’. Then 
follows the statement, ‘““The seven heads are seven 
mountains’; and this explains what is symbolized by 





The Vision of the Two Wild Beasts 399 


the seven heads; for as we have already shown, moun- 
‘tains in Scripture symbolize great nations. More- 
over, two of the nations that are represented in the 
O. T. as mountains, are identified as Babylon and 
Medo-Persia; and this makes it easy for us to identify 
the other five. For verse 10 informs us that in John’s 
day five of those kings (or kingdoms) had already 
fallen, one (the sixth) was then in existence (‘one 
is’), and the other (the seventh and last) was “‘not yet 
come’. Here is information that we should fix clearly 
in our minds, namely, (1) that the Roman Empire, un- 
der which John was living when he wrote this descrip- 
tion, was the sixth in the succession of seven Gentile 
world kingdoms; and (2) that another was to follow, 
which should be the last, and which should have but 
a short term of existence. This last of the seven is an 
object of special interest in our present study; for it is 
that kingdom which comes into collision with Christ 
and the armies of heaven in the final conflict (19: 
11-21). 

Verse 11 is somewhat enigmatical. It states con- 
cerning the beast itself that ‘‘even he is the (or rather 
an) eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdi- 
tion’. I have seen various attempts at explaining this 
verse; but to my mind they left the subject even more 
obscure than they found it. But the explanation given 
by Dr. Hengstenberg is simple and satisfactory. Strictly 
speaking, the beast could not exist apart from one of 
its seven heads, and hence, when the seventh head is 
destroyed, it being the last, the beast itself would cease 


4.00 The Patmos Visions 


to exist. Yet in representing the totality of Gentile 
world-rule pictorially, we have to view the beast as hav- 
ing an ideal existence apart from its heads; and there- 
fore, in order to express the idea that not only does the 
seventh head, the last world power, go into perdition, 
but that human world government in its entirety is to 
be finally disposed of; it is stated also that the beast 
itself likewise “‘goeth into perdition”. The beast itself 
is obviously “of the seven’’, for it has been at one time 
identified with each; and it is also ‘an eighth”, in that 
it shares the fate of the seven heads. 

Having identified the Roman Empire as the sixth 
head, it is easy to identify the five that preceded it. 
Daniel (Chapters VII and VIII) shows that three of 
them (counting backwards) were Greece, Persia, and 
Babylon; and other passages of the O. T. make it 
plain that the other two were (still counting back- 
wards) Assyria and Egypt. For the Israel of God, in 
its total life history from the days of Abraham, Isaac 
and Jacob, has up to now come into contact with, and, 
has been in subjection to, these six powers successively, 
Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome; 
leaving but one more, the seventh, to make that his- 
tory of oppression and subjection full and complete. 
For the establishing of this last statement it will suffice 
to refer to the following Scriptures: “For thus saith 
the Lord of hosts, My people went down aforetime 
into Egypt, and the Assyrian oppressed them without 
cause” (Isa. 52:4). This was a divine summary of 
the nations that had oppressed Israel up to that time, 





The Vision of the Two Wild Beasts  4o1 


and it was spoken in view of the then approaching 
Babylonian oppression (see also Isa. 10:24-26; and 
PAS mer Osi 933 and Nhs) in Zechariah LOO 1L, 
Egypt and Assyria are used as types of the oppressors 
of the latter times. 

The Ten Horns. We have seen that a horn repre- 
sents power, and especially a kingdom, not necessarily 
an empire or world power, but usually a minor nation. 
But here again the explanation is given us; for in 
Chapter 17:12 is the statement: ‘And the ten horns 
which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received 
no kingdom as yet”. The latter clause shows that those 
kingdoms had not come into being in John’s day; and 
what follows places their existence in the very time of 
the end: “But receive power as kings one hour with 
the beast ... These shall make war with the Lamb, 
and the Lamb shall overcome them” (vv. 12-14). They 
are mentioned again in association with the beast on 
the eve of the final battle (19:19). This is a matter 
of peculiar interest to ourselves at the present moment, 
when the events of world politics are rapidly assuming 
a form, and taking a direction, that make the last em- 
bodiment of world empire, the seventh head, with its 
associated kingdoms, a possibility of the very near 
future. 


THe Heap THat RECEIVED THE DEADLY WounNpD 


“And I saw one of his heads, as it were wounded to death; 
and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered 
after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave 
power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, 





4.02 The Patmos Vistons 


Who is like unto the beast ? who is able to make war with him ?” 
C13 34). 

Close examination of the text leads to the conclusion 
that the wound was a thing of the past when the beast 
came into John’s view. ‘he parallel expression is “‘a 
Lamb as it had been slain” (5:6). The beast had 
already received the death-stroke, and yet lived again, 
when John first saw it. Much is made of this matter; 
for in verses 12 and 14, reference is made to ‘“‘the 
beast which had the wound with the sword and did 
live’; and it should be noted that what is said in verse 
3 of “one of its heads’’ is said in verses 12 and 14 of 
the beast itself, showing that the beast is identified with 
one head at a time. 

This important event in the career of the beast 
comes to view again in Chapter 17:8, in the words, 
‘“‘was, and is not, and shall ascend out of the bottom- 
less pit, and go into perdition”. Thus the stroke is 
regarded as having put the beast to death; and its re- 
vival is viewed as a coming up again out of the abyss. 
Further the importance of this episode is emphasized 
by the threefold repetition of the words, ‘‘was, and is 
not, and yet is’ (vv. 8 and 11). These verses show 
also that it was the sixth head that received the death 
stroke. 

To what then does this refer? Considering the 
great importance given to this death wound of the 
beast, the fact that it was something that had already 
taken place when John saw the vision, and the further 
fact especially that the dragon and the beasts are so 





The Vision of the Two Wild Beasts 403 


closely identified as to be virtually one (v. 2), it is 
clear that the death stroke referred to could have been 
nothing else than that which befell the dragon and all 
that is associated with him through the death of Jesus 
Christ. It is another pictorial representation of the 
truth that our Lord by death destroyed him that had 
the power of death (Heb. 2:14); or as another Scrip- 
ture that speaks of Christ and the cross puts it, ‘“‘hay- 
ing slain the enmity thereby” (Eph. 2:16). This latter 
passage is seen to be specially pertinent when it is ob- 
served that the phrase ‘“‘as wounded to death” in Rev- 
elation 13:3, is literally ‘‘as slain to death” (see mar- 
gin). According to the words of the Lord, recorded 
by this same John, the cross was the stroke of judg- 
ment upon the prince of this world. It is most fitting 
then that this vision should display conspicuously the 
effect of the cross of Christ upon the Devil in his char- 
acter of world ruler. : 

Let us dwell a little upon this matter; for not only 
is the truth involved therein of supreme importance, 
but moreover it is needful, for the proper understand- 
ing of the vision as a whole, that we should be quite 
clear as to what that death stroke was, from which the 
beast so miraculously revived. 

In the early days of imperial Rome (the beginning 
of the stage of the sixth head of the beast) Jesus, 
God’s Christ and King, to Whom the sceptre of the 
world is promised, was born. He proclaimed to the 
Jews the coming of the long-promised Kingdom of 
God, and testified that it was at hand. But He was 





4.04. The Patmos Visions 


rejected, was delivered up to the power of the beast, 
and was put to death; both Jews and Gentiles taking 
part in that deed. Thus was fulfilled, as the Scripture 
itself declares (Acts 4:25-28), the first part of the 
prophecy of the second Psalm: ‘The kings of the earth 
set themselves (in array), and the rulers take counsel 
together, against the Lord, and against His Anointed”. 
And thereupon His body was laid in a tomb, the mouth 
of which was closed with a great stone, and which was 
sealed and guarded. But He burst the tomb. He tri- 
umphed over principalities and powers; He made a 
show of them openly; He was enthroned in heaven 
far above them; they were one and all ‘“‘made subject 
to Him”. Now the Scriptures represent this triumph 
of Christ as being a death blow to the governmental 
authority or lordship of Satan, the one who has “‘the 
power of death” (Heb. 2:14, 15). Here we have the 
bruising of his head (Gen. 3:15), a subject which 
properly follows in the line of events pictured in Chap- 
ter XII. Here also is fulfilled the prophecy of Hosea 
13 :10-14: “I will be thy King, where is there any other 
that can save thee? I will ransom thee from the power 
of the grave. I will redeem thee from death”’. 

Why then was not the beast government brought to 
an immediate end? It would be natural to expect that, 
after a victory so complete, the great dragon enemy 
would be at once stripped of all authority and put 
where he could do no further harm. Such was the ex- 
pectation of the disciples, when the Lord came back 
to them a Victor over death and the grave; for they 


The Vision of the Two Wild Beasts 405 


asked Him, ‘‘Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again 
the kingdom to Israel?” (Ac. 1:6). And we cannot 
wonder that they should have asked that question, and 
should have expected an afirmative answer. For as 
yet the Holy Spirit had not come upon them and en- 
lightened them as to the truth of the Kingdom of God. 
They were still ignorant of “the mystery of Christ; 
.. . that the Gentiles were to be fellow heirs, and of 
the same body, and partakers of God’s promise in 
Christ by means of the gospel” (Eph. 3:4-6). They 
did not know that, according to “the mystery of god- 
liness’’, Christ must be not only ‘‘manifested in the 
flesh, justified in the Spirit and seen of angels’’, but 
must also be “preached unto the Gentiles and believed 
on in the world’ (1 Tim. 3:16). They were as yet 
“ignorant of this mystery, that blindness in part was 
happened to Israel’, and was to last “‘until the fulness 
of the Gentiles be come in” (Rom. 11:25). So like- 
wise were they ignorant of “‘the mystery of iniquity’, 
that the Devil was to be permitted to sow his tares in 
every part of the field where the good seed of the gos- 
pel should be sown; and that the beast government 
would survive the deadly wound, as by a miracle, and 
would continue in control of the world for many cen- 
turies. This long interval of “mystery”? between the 
victory of the cross and the overthrow of the beast that 
received the death-stroke, that long period of waiting 
and suffering on the part of Christ’s true people, is the 
era of “the Kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ” 
(Rev. 1:9). ‘This is recalled at 13:10, by the words, 





406 The Patmos Visions 


“Flere is the patience and the faith of the saints’; and 
again at 14:12 by the words: ‘‘Here is the patience of 
the saints’. 

Commenting on the passage we are now studying 
Hengstenberg says: 


“Whatever destroys the power of the dragon must also be 
fatal to the beast. But the victory of Christ affected the un- 
godly power of Rome not as such, but only as a part of the 
ungodly power of the world in general. All other discomfitures 
save this one only bore but a partial character; they could but 
affect a single head of the beast, and not the beast as a whole. 
‘This however, is the one event in the world’s history by which 
the whole beast was smitten in the one head ; for in former times 
the overthrow of one head was immediately followed by the 
rising up of another. From what has been said, the beast must 
already have existed at the time of our Lord’s death. For, by 
means of the atonement then effected, one of his heads was 
wounded to death. ‘This alone serves to refute those who would 
understand by the beast a power that did not arise until a much 
later period—the Papacy”’. 


If then the prince of this world was crushingly de- 
feated, and the governmental system to which he had 
given “his power and his throne and great authority”, 
received a mortal wound by the cross, what a marvel 
that it should have lived again, and waxed mighty, and 
have even been enabled ‘‘to make war with the saints 
and to overcome them’’, and to exercise power ‘‘over 
all kindreds, and tongues, and nations’! (v. 7). It is 
not surprising that “all the world wondered after the 
beast, and worshipped the dragon that gave power to 
the beast’. ‘“The wondering astonishment with which 
the earth follows the beast comes not merely in spite 





The Vision of the Two Wild Beasts 407 


of the death, but also on account of the healing” 
(Hengstenberg). ‘‘Nothing’, says Zullig, “awoke 
more astonishment and greater faith in respect to the 
Messiah, than His resurrection after He had been 
killed. And it was not otherwise in the case of the 
beast, the earthly power of heathendom’”’. Not that 
the masses of people realized what they were doing, 
or rendered this worship to the dragon and the beast 
consciously. For, as remarked by Bengel: 


“Those who regarded the beast as worthy of admiration, at 
the same time worshipped the dragon without being themselves 
conscious of it. This was very agreeable to the dragon. Those 
who despise the Son of God despise also the Father, though they 
be not aware of it. And there is the same connection on the 
other side in regard to the beast and the dragon”. 


A parallel case is noted in 1 Corinthians 10:19, 20, 
where the apostle says that the Gentiles who offer sac- 
rifices to idols, ‘sacrifice to devils”; though, of course, 
they are unaware of what they are doing. 

Those who worshipped the beast did homage to him 
by saying, “who is like unto the beast? Who is able 
to make war with him’? Now the property of being 
incomparable belongs to God only. Hence the first 
question is a blasphemous application to the beast of 
the question that God asks, “To whom then will ye 
liken Me?” (Isa. 40:25). In the second question we 
see a mocking reference to the war in heaven of the 
preceding chapter. For just as there was a great shout 
of rejoicing in heaven when Michael and his angels pre- 
vailed over the dragon and his hosts, so now there is 





408 The Patmos Visions 


a jubilant cry on earth because of the invincibility at- 
tributed to the beast, to whom it was given “‘to make 
war with the saints and to overcome them” (v. 7). 
This refers, of course, to the fierce and bloody persecu- 
tions of the people of God by Imperial Rome. History 
records ten such persecutions, beginning with that in 
Nero’s reign (A. D. 64-68), the last being under Dio- 
cletian (303-313). ‘That trial was to be so severe that 
all save those whose names were written in the Lamb’s 
book of life would yield to the pressure and worship 
the beast; and inasmuch as the worship of the Roman 
Emperors was made compulsory in those days, and was 
enforced under penalty of torture and death, there is 
little room for doubt as to the manner and time of the 
fulfilment of this prophecy. On this Hengstenberg 
remarks: 


“Since the book of life is unreservedly ascribed to the Lamb 
that was slain, all salvation, not excepting that of the saints of 
the Old Testament, is thus represented as depending on the one 
sacrifice of Christ”. 


That the matter here presented is of high conse- 
quence is evident from verses 9 and 10, and specially 
from the words, “If any man have an ear, let him 
hear’. ‘Those words also imply that the truth which 
is here presented is a hard one to receive. It would 
seem as if the beast were indeed invincible, and were 
to continue indefinitely carrying everything before him. 
So God at this point introduces a strong and definite 
assurance as to the final outcome. “He that leadeth 
into captivity, shall go into captivity”. This is fulfilled 





The Vision of the Two Wild Beasts 409 


at Chapter 20:1-3, where Satan is bound in the bottom- 
less pit for a thousand years. “He that killeth with 
the sword, must be killed with the sword’. ‘This is 
fulfilled at Chapter 19:15-21, where Christ appears 
and smites the enemy with the sword that proceedeth 
out of His mouth. The words, “Here is the patience 
and the faith of the saints’, are equivalent to saying 
that God’s saints will receive these assurances in faith, 
and will gain therefrom power to endure, whatever 
affictions may fall to their lot. 


‘And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things 
and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue 
forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy 
against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and 
them that dwell in heaven” (vv. 5, 6). 


There is comfort in the fact that the power given 
to the beast is not of unlimited, nor of indefinite dura- 
tion. The length thereof is definitely fixed; though 
here again we have to realize and confess our ignor- 
ance concerning spiritual measurements of time and 
space. The words “it was given unto him’, which oc- 
cur three times in verses 5-7, also convey the comfort- 
ing assurance that the beast can do nothing but what 
is permitted him to do. God holds the situation in 
hand at all times. Indeed He has declared in advance 
both the limit of the beast’s power, and the length of 
time he is to exercise it. As to the mouth speaking 
great things and blasphemies, history abounds in in- 
stances of the promulgation, by the ungodly world 
power, particularly in the stage of the 6th head (the 





410 The Patmos Visions 


Roman Empire) of laws and decrees adverse to God 
and His people. All such are in themselves “great 
things’’, and in their moral character, as being con- 
trary to God, “blasphemies”’. 


THE SECOND BEAST 


Thus far the career of the first beast alone. But 
now a companion beast appears upon the scene, of 
which the following is the description: 


“And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and 
he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And 
he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and 
causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the 
first beast, whose deadly wound was healed” (vv. 11, 12). 


The fact that the first beast represents a system of 
world-government gives strong reason for taking the 
second beast to represent something of like nature; 
for the symbol being the same, the thing symbolized 
must be the same. This second beast has identifying 
marks of a very striking character. In the first place, 
it comes into the closest association with the first beast, 
and continues along with it to the end, when both per- 
ish together (19:20). We should therefore inquire 
whether there has been anything in the nature of a 
political system that arose ‘‘out of the earth” (the or- 
dered part of the world) during the continuance of the 
Roman Empire; that came into intimate union there- 
with; and that has continued in that intimacy until now? 
And if such there be, then we should inquire further, 
does it correspond with the identifying marks here 





The Vision of the Two Wild Beasts 411 


given for our enlightenment? To these questions, 
every one who has the slightest acquaintance with his- 
tory will say, there has been such a system; for beyond 
a doubt, Romanism did arise during the course of ex- 
istence of the Roman Empire; it is a system of religious 
character and political aim; and it has been, from the 
very beginning, closely identified with the nations com- 
posing the Roman Empire. Moreover, it corresponds 
with what is said in the text concerning the second 
beast. 

In commenting upon the preceding visions of the 
trumpet series, I mentioned the fact that in this gospel 
dispensation the Israel of God has been opposed by 
three great systems, that have arisen at different times, 
and under divers circumstances, each of which was of 
a definitely, not to say fanatically, religious character, 
each of which was animated by the very same political 
ambition, namely, to possess the dominion of the earth, 
and each severally claiming the authority of Almighty 
God in support of their pretensions. ‘The first two, 
Judaism and Islamism, have been considered. And 
now we come to the last and most formidable, Roman- 
ism. It is a fact of immense significance that what 
these three great systems have in common, namely, the 
purpose to seize the dominion of the world, is precisely 
the aim of the Devil himself. From this it may be cer- 
tainly deduced that each of them is but an instrument 
of the great Adversary. Now it has been made abund- 
antly evident that the visions of the trumpet series 
have to do with the age-long conflict concerning the 





412 The Patmos Visions 


kingdom of this world; and such being the case, those 
visions must be occupied mainly with the hostile doings 
of the three great Satanic systems. ‘This view receives 
strong confirmation in the fact that the symbols of the 
first group of four trumpets correspond closely with 
Judaism, and those of the next group of two with 
Mohammedanism. From this it would be a well-nigh 
inevitable conclusion that the symbols of the seventh 
trumpet should reveal the career and end of Roman- 
ism. Indeed, the view herein presented of the trumpet 
series, which is divinely divided into just three groups, 
so clearly explains that series in its entirety, in its sev- 
eral groups, and in its individual visions, as to be prac- 
tically self-authenticating; even as the correct solution 
of an intricate problem proves itself, seeing that none 
but the right one could explain every detail. 

It is a matter of moment that Romanism arose in 
a manner essentially different from the other two sys- 
tems of evil; for whereas they appeared in open antag- 
onism to the faith of Jesus Christ, it presented itself 
as the embodiment, and as the only embodiment, of 
true christianity, as the veritable and only kingdom of 
God. Here we have “the depths of Satan” (2:24). 
The bearing of this fact upon the question of interpre- 
tation is most important.: For if the design of the trum- 
pet series was indeed to exhibit the whole conflict be- 
tween the people of God and the three politico-religious 
systems that have disputed the ground with them, then 
the vision that shows the rise of Romanism will present 
a marked difference from the other visions correspond- 





The Vision of the Two Wild Beasts 413 


ing to this difference of origin. How very important 
then is the fact that precisely such a characteristic dif- 
ference appears in the vision of the second beast! For 
how could the remarkably peculiar manner in which 
Romanism came into existence (in close alliance from 
the very start with the Roman Empire), be more ap- 
propriately symbolized than by the picture of a beast 
coming up out of the earth, in guise like a lamb, but 
speaking as a dragon, and exercising all the power of 
the first beast before him? 

The first descriptive item is the phrase, ‘‘coming up 
out of the earth’, this being in manifestly intentional 
contrast with the statement that the first beast arose 
“out of the sea’ (v. 7). And what are the historical 
facts? The Roman Empire itself arose out of the 
tumultuous and restless sea of the multitudinous na- 
tions; whereas the Papacy, as a political system, arose 
out of the stabilized part of the world, in fact, in the 
very heart of the Roman Empire itself. So closely 
have they been identified from the beginning, that the 
capital city of the Tne has been also the seat of 
the Papacy. 

The root of that system of mystery can easily be 
traced to the emperor Constantine who, in 323, after 
professing conversion to christianity, and giving as the 
cause thereof a pretended vision of a cross suspended 
above the sun with the legend surrounding it ‘In this 
sign conquer’, made christianity the state religion, 
even compelling his pagan soldiers to be baptized, 
whole regiments at a time. Dr. Greene sums up the 





414 The Patmos Visions 


situation (speaking of the state of the Roman Empire 
at the death of Licinius in 323) in these words: “For 
good or for evil, Constantine now held undisputed 
sovereignty over that mighty realm, which his word 
of command was soon to transform into a nominal 
Christendom” (Handbook of Church History, pg.93). 
Here the Kingdom of God came first into favor, and 
then into alliance, with the beast-government of the 
world; and the result was disastrous alike to both faith 
and morals. But our present concern is solely with the 
rise and development of Romanism as a political sys- 
tem. Another stage therein was reached when the 
western half of the Roman Empire fell to Odoacer, 
A. D. 475, whereby the influence of the Bishop of 
Rome was incidentally augmented. That influence con- 
tinued to increase slowly until, in the hands of Gregory, 
surnamed “the Great’? (590-604), it became well-nigh 
supreme throughout Christendom in ecclesiastical mat- 
ters. The claim to temporal dominion, however, was 
not advanced until several centuries later. It first took 
concrete shape in the days of Hildebrand (latter part 
of the eleventh century). The manner in which it was - 
first asserted appears in the following extract from a 
letter which Pope Gregory VII (Hildebrand) ad- 
dressed to William I of England (William the Con- 


queror): 


“Like the two great luminaries fixed by the Creator in the 
firmament of the heaven to give light to His creatures, so also 
hath He ordained two great powers on earth, by which all are 
to be governed and preserved from error. Those powers are 





The Vision of the Two Wild Beasts 415 


the pontifical and the royal; but the former is the greater, the 
latter the lesser light. Yet under both, the religion of Christ 
is so ordered that, by God’s assistance, the apostolical power 
shall govern the royal; and Scripture teacheth that the apostoli- 
cal and pontifical dignity is ordained to be responsible for all 
Christian Kings, nay for all men, before the divine tribunal”’. 
And on these grounds the Pontiff demanded of King William 
“upon the peril of his soul’, to render to him “unconditional 
obedience” (Henderson’s Select Historical Documents of the 


Middle Ages. Bohn’s ed. 1896). 


The reference by the Pope to the two great lumin- 
aries is remarkable indeed, in that he uses the very 
imagery of Revelation 12:1 in presenting his arrogant 
demand, attempting, so to speak, to occupy the place 
of the sun-clothed woman, to clothe himself with the 
sun, and to put the moon under his own feet. It will 
be observed that at the date of that letter the Pope 
still distinguished the royal power from the pontifical, 
claiming for himself only the latter. King William 
curtly “refused to do fealty’; and King Philip of 
France simply ignored the claim of the Pope to a 
power superior to the royal. But successive popes per- 
sisted in the claim, taking advantage of every turn in 
the political affairs of Europe to strengthen themselves 
in the assertion of it, until in 1198 Innocent III desig- 
nated himself, as none of his predecessors had pre- 
sumed to do, “‘the representative of God on earth”’. 
The claims of the Papacy were carried to their ex- 
tremest limit by Boniface VIII (1294-1303). As to 
the doings of that pontiff, Dr. Green’s History contains 
the following (p. 468): 





416 The Patmos Visions 


“At his inauguration two kings held his stirrups. He pro- 
claimed a Jubilee for the year 1300. . . . It is credibly re- 
ported that in the course of the proceedings, he appeared before 
the multitude on one day in his pontificals, on another with 
sword, crown and sceptre, exclaiming, ‘I am Caesar! I am 
Emperor!’ ‘This same Boniface issued a famous Bull (Unam 
Sanctam) in which with marvellous exegesis, he quoted the 
words of the disciples regarding the ‘two swords’ (Lu. 22:38), 
saying: ‘Both swords, the spiritual and the temporal are in the 
power of the Church’. That Bull further explicitly declares 
that “there is one holy catholic and apostolic Church, outside 
of which there is no salvation or remission of sins. We declare, 
announce and define, that it is altogether necessary to salvation 


32 II 


for every human creature to be subject to the Roman pontiff’ ’’. 


This is not only the most blasphemous pretension a 
mortal man could make, but (and this is more to the 
purpose of our present study) it is an audacious at- 
tempt to make the salvation of God, which He has 
freely proclaimed to all men upon the simple condition 
of faith in Jesus Christ, the means of advancing the 
claim of the Papacy to supreme earthly dominion. At 
this date (about 1300) the Papacy was at its height. 

Coming back now to the text, it will be easily seen 
that the words, ‘‘he had two horns like a lamb, and 
he spake as a dragon’, fitly summarize the great out- 
standing facts concerning the Papacy: (1) that the 
occupant of the papal chair assumed the guise of a 
representative of Jesus Christ, which is the basis of 
his entire pretensions; (2) that inwardly as shown by 
the voice, which proceeds from within, his purpose is 
_ identically that of the dragon himself, namely, to seize 
and hold the dominion of the earth. The fundamental 





The Vision of the Two Wild Beasts 417 


Scripture on which this reference 1s based is Matthew 
7:15, where we have the warning of Christ, ‘Beware 
of false prophets’’— and this beast is called in Chap- 
ter 16:3, and 19:20, the false prophet—‘‘which come 
to you in sheep’s clothing’, that is to say, outwardly 
like a lamb, “‘but INWARDLY they are ravening wolves’. 

Verse 12 states that “‘he exerciseth all the power 
of the first beast before him’’; and surely it would be 
exceedingly difficult in any other sentence of equal 
brevity to set forth so clearly the historical fact that 
all the powers of the state were exercised by the Pap- 
acy, while the kings and their ministers of state con- 
tinued to exist, and nominally to discharge their off- 
cial duties. The last part of the verse is appropriately 
to be referred to the worship demanded by the popes 
and their personal representatives (papal legates). 
Bengel remarks: ‘‘What the first beast has power to 
do, this other does in his name, since the first can no 
longer take the business in hand, although his power 
in itself still continues’. 

In the vision of Daniel VII, which tallies closely 
with this one, the appearance of another power during 
the era of the fourth beast (which by practically all 
commentators is taken as symbolizing the Roman Em- 
pire) is plainly indicated by the words: 


“I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among 
them another little horn, before whom were three of the first 
horns plucked up by the roots; and behold, in this horn were 
eyes, like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things” 


(Dan. 7:8). 





418 The Patmos Visions 


In the explanation of the vision given by the reveal- 
ing angel, this occurs: 


“And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that 
shall arise: and another shall arise after them; and he shall be 
diverse from the first, and shall subdue three kings. And he 
shall speak great words against the Most High, and wear out 
the saints of the Most High; and they shall be given into his 
hand until a time, and times, and the dividing of time” (vv. 24, 


25): 

I do not undertake to explain the details of this 
prophecy. Its close resemblance to that of Revelation 
XIII is seen at a glance. I wish only to remark that 
most Protestant commentators see in this “‘little horn” 
a prophecy of the papacy, and that I find no reason for 


disagreeing with them. 


“And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come 
down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And de- 
ceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those 
miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; 
saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make 
an image of the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did 
live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, 
that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as 
many as would not worship the image of the beast should be 


killed” (vv. 13-15). 


It is characteristic of all pretenders to work mir- 
acles; sometimes real ones by satanic agency, some- 
times spurious ones. The Lord said, ‘‘For there shall 
arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show 
great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were pos- 
sible, they shall deceive the very elect”? (Mat. 24:24). 
The alleged miracles of papal Rome are legion; and 





The Vision of the Two Wild Beasts 419 


innumerable multitudes have been duped thereby. Not 
that I count the miracles of Rome as being all spurious; 
for the Scripture, from the days of Moses in Egypt on- 
ward, makes many references to the working of signs 
and wonders through the agency of the supernatural 
powers of evil. 


“Sooth-saying and witchcraft are rejected in Scripture, not 
on the ground of their nothingness, but because they are an 
abomination to the Lord (Dt. 18:9). Though signs should 
here and there rise above what is common, they still remain 
widely different from true signs and wonders through their 
aim, and by their mixture with common frauds. Besides, as 
the signs of the Egyptian wise men were occasioned by those of 
Moses, so the signs of the false prophet here are occasioned by 
those of Christ. It is unnecessary to adduce any historical 
quotation to show that, in the conflict of heathendom with 
Christianity, wonders and signs played an important part. 
Every church history supplies the proof” (Hengstenberg). 


It is particularly stated that “he maketh fire come 
down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men’. 
Bearing in mind that fire from heaven is, in this Book, 
the figure of judgments falling upon men, I take this 
as referring to the terrific papal anathemas often car- 
rying with them the sentence of death by sword, or by 
the flames, which have been a common incident of the 
rule of the Papacy. 

Again it is said that the second Beast will cause an 
image to be made to the first Beast, and that he will 
give life, or literally “breath” thereto. ‘Taking into 
account the figurative language of this prophecy, this 
may mean that the second Beast will supply, for the 





420 The Patmos Visions 


furtherance of the ends in view, a religious organiza- 
tion, or system of worship. ‘The word “image” 
(eikon) is used in Heb. 10:1 in this very sense. Fur- 
ther it is said that he had power to give breath 
(pneuma) to the image, giving it, as it were, a voice, 
and power also to slay all who will not bow down to 
this eikon. 

Hengstenberg, after referring to the great image 
which king Nebuchadnezzar set up, and which he re- 
quired all the nations of his dominion to worship, com- 
ments as follows: 


“The setting up of the likeness of the emperor was one of 
the most effectual means which heathen despotism could employ 
to place itself in the center of the world. By means ‘of this 
image the beast was rendered in a manner omnipresent. Its 
living representative, the Roman emperor, was confined to no 
particular place. In this way the choice was set before Chris- 
tians between martyrdom and apostasy”. 


We do not have to suppose, therefore, a literal 
image of metal or other material, supernaturally en- 
dowed with life and power of speech. An ideal set 
before people’s minds as standing for the supreme au- 
thority to which they are to bow in adoring homage, 
would as well, or better, answer to what is stated con- 
cerning the image of the beast. As to this it is well 
said by Hengstenberg that the “life” (breath or spirit) 
“which, according to verse 15, belongs to the image of the beast, 
is not properly residing in him, but flowing out of him along 
with the speech given to him by the wisdom of this world. It 


can only, therefore, be an apparent Jife that is spoken of. The 
spirit is first given to the image of the beast in this way, that 








The Vision of the Two Wild Beasts 421 


mens minds are filled with exalted representations of the beast 
himself, and of his almighty power, in contrast to the supposed 
impotence of his opponent’’. 


‘And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free 
and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their 
foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had 
the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name”’ 


(xvi 6, 1/7): 


Hengstenberg points out that “the named here are 
seven, the all first, and then the three pairs’. ‘This 
points to the completeness of the authority of the beast, 
in that all classes of society are subject to it. Buying 
and selling is one of the commonest of the avocations 
of life. This may be a figurative way of expressing 
the abject servitude of the masses of people to the 
beast. But it may also, and in my opinion does, point 
to the development in the last days of this dispensa- 
tion of a vast business organization, having its ramif- 
cations throughout the world, a monster ‘“‘combine’’, 
or “‘trust’’, in such complete control of commerce and 
industry that none can, without its license, engage in 
any business—“‘buy or sell’’. That we are fast head- 
ing towards such a system is apparent upon the face 
of current events. But, in order that its control may 
be as absolute as here indicated, it must be vested with 
super-governmental powers; and that too has been en- 
visaged by the forward looking minds of our day. 
Moreover,. we saw in the recent world-war a brand 
new development, in that all the factories and indus- 
tries of the land were mobilized and placed under gov- 





422 The Patmos Vatons 


ernmental control. Thus the way was prepared for 
the final heading up of all the national resources in one 
gigantic system. But again there will be needed a 
superlative binding agent, to cement and hold together 
the divers part of such a titanic affair. And this is 
where the religious element comes in. For nothing 
else than a common religious bond would serve this 
purpose, and there is but one religion of world-wide 
extent, entering into the national life of all the civilized 
nations, having uniform ceremonies (the mass etc.), a 
common language (Latin), an iron-bound hierarchy, 
and a single head; and that, of course is Romanism. 
Behold, then, the three great actors in the last 
drama of earth’s history: (1) the dragon, the real 
potency behind it all, though invisible; (2) the beast, 
the Roman Empire, still existing in its iron framework 
of civil government, and now in process of assuming 
its final ten-horned form; and (3) the Papacy, with 
its vast organization, its millions of blinded and super- 
stitious devotees, and its steadfast political aim! 


Returning to the vision, it is to be noted that the 
privilege of buying and selling is to be enjoyed only by 
such as have the mark of the beast on their right hand, 
or on their forehead. In order to translate this into 
common language, we have first to remember that a 
brand, or mark, upon one’s person is a badge of the 
complete ownership of the one so marked by him whose 
mark he bears. It was common practice to brand slaves, 
as well as sheep and cattle, with the mark of their 








The Vision of the Two Wild Beasts 423 


owner. Therefore, to bear the mark of the beast is to 
be his servant. The right hand is the instrument of 
action and of strength. Hence to bear the mark of the 
beast on that hand signifies that the one so marked 
serves the beast in all his actions, and with all his 
powers. The forehead is the most exposed and most 
conspicuous part of the body; hence, to have the mark 
there is equivalent to an open acknowledgment of the 
beast’s ownership. These thoughts in connection with 
the hand and forehead appear in Scripture in a passage 
in which God teaches the respect to be paid to His 
Word by the people who had professed to give them- 
selves wholly into His service, saying: “And these 
words, which I command thee this day, shall be in 
thine heart. And thou shalt teach them diligently to 
thy children, .. . And thou shalt bind them for a sign 
upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between 
thine eyes’ (Deut. 6:6-8). 

We come now to the last verse of the chapter, and 
of the vision: ‘ 

“Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count 
the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his 
number is six hundred threescore and six” (v. 18). 

At the end of what was revealed concerning the first 
beast it was said, “‘Here is the patience and the faith 
of the saints’; and now at the end of what is revealed 
concerning the second beast is the parallel expression, 
‘Here is wisdom’. In the former case the situation 
was one that demanded patience and faith to endure. 
Here it is a problem requiring “‘wisdom”’ and ‘“‘under- 





424 The Patmos Visions 


standing’ to solve. Nature supplies none of these 
things; nor can human efforts attain unto them. But 
as faith and patience are God’s gifts, freely bestowed 
upon them that seek Him, so likewise are wisdom and 
understanding, “For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of 
His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding’ 
(Prov. 2:6). Therefore, “If any of you lack wisdom, 
let him ask of God, who giveth Tana and upbraid- 
eth not” (Jam. 1:5). 

Yet the problem here presented to us demands wis- 
dom in no ordinary measure; as is evident from the 
fact that various and contradictory explanations have 
been offered by men not lacking in spiritual discern- 
ment, men too who would not have failed to ask of 
God the needed wisdom ere attempting the solution. 
So let us approach the matter cautiously, and with ‘‘no 
confidence in the flesh’. 

My own thought about it, as given in a former book 
(The Number of Man, published about 1908) is that 
the clue to the meaning lies in the words, ‘“‘for it is the 
number of (a) man’’, that is to say the sum total of all 
human achievement. ‘That “number of man” is six, 
repeated again and yet again, but still remaining, no 
matter how often repeated, the number of incomplete- 
ness and imperfection, never attaining to the complete 
seven. Solomon, in his book of human wisdom, seems 
to be expressing the same thought when he says: ‘This 
have I found, counting one by one to find out the ac- 
count, ... Lo, this only have I found, that God hath 
made man upright; but they have sought out many in- 


POE A TR TT REISE TR SRE EY Pa TU RRR LNT ASE TST 
The Vision of the Two Wild Beasts 425 


ventions” (Eccl. 7:27, 29). And now the vision be- 
fore us brings us to the end of man’s efforts, to the 
summing up of his “‘account’’, to the full fruition of his 
‘many inventions’. And what is the total sum of his 
six thousand years of ceaseless activities? Has he 
reached a sabbath at last? has he achieved a state of 
rest and satisfaction? has he attained a seven? Alas! 
no. He is as far from it as ever. The world, as man 
has made it by his six days of toil, and his “many in- 
ventions’, is a place of hideous unrest, a place of ever- 
increasing turmoil, corruption and violence. He never 
gets beyond the number six, and never could. What a 
contrast between! man’s work and God’s! When God's 
sixth day came, its sun went down upon a finished crea- 
tion. [he work was complete and perfect. ‘And 
God saw everything that He had made, and behold it 
was VERY GooD. And the evening and the morning 
were the sixth day” (Gen. 1:31). But God’s “account” 
does not stop at six. It goes on to completeness. For 
the next words are: ‘“Ihus the heavens and the earth 
were finished, and all the host of them. And on the 
seventh day, God ended His work which He had made; 
and He rested on the seventh day from all His work 
which He had made. And God blessed the seventh 
day and sanctified it, because that in it He had rested 
from all His work which God created and made” (Gen. 
Plas) « 

There is indeed a day of rest to come, a millennium 
of blessedness, as this Book of the Revelation of Jesus 
Christ shows us. But that seventh thousand years of 


426 The Patmos Visions 


Eee ee ee eee eae a 


heavenly rest will not be the fruit of man’s efforts, 
for his best works are but ‘“‘dead works”. They eventu- 
ate in no sabbath day, but, on the contrary are works 
such as call for ‘‘repentance”’; and his conscience needs 
to be purged from them by the blood of Christ (Heb. 
6:1; 9:14). So God must step in. He must settle | 
man’s long account. He must bring every work into 
judgment. He must blot out all the vain works of 
man. And then, when the earth shall have been purged 
from them all by the outpouring of the seven vials of 
His scorching wrath (“for in them is filled up the 
wrath of God”, 15:1), and when the two beasts shall 
have been cast into the lake of fire, and “the dragon, 
that old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan”, shall 
have been bound for a thousand years, and shut up in 
the bottomless pit till the thousand years be fulfilled, 
then will dawn that day of “sabbath rest which re-. 
maineth unto the people of God” (Heb. 4:9). 

Such was the writer’s thought concerning this pas- 
sage seventeen years ago, and such is his thought about 
it still; and therefore it has been no small satisfaction 
to him to find in Hengstenberg’s comments on the pass- 
age the following: 


“The 666 is, as it were, the swollen, blown up six; the six in 
its highest potency, but still, when swelled up and increased to 
the uttermost, no more than six . . . By the six being. carried 
through units, tens, and hundreds, the number marks the soaring 
pretensions and might of the beast; while on the other side, the 
relation of the six to the seven and twelve, implies that in respect 
to the church he still after all came short”. 


_retcecerenereceananaranaermeerenrnencernenn err thet Na PC AaENaSnA Tee 
The Vision of the Two Wild Beasts 427 


Hengstenberg also calls attention to the only other 
passage in the Scripture where this number, 666, is to 
be found, saying: 


“Here we must not wander about after our own imaginations. 
The seer of the Apocalypse lives entirely in holy Scripture. On 
this territory therefore is the solution of the sacred riddle to be 
sought. And there also it can be found with certainty. In the 
whole of the O. T. there is but one instance in which the number 
666 occurs in connection with a name. It is written in Ezra 
2:13, The children of Adonikam, six hundred sixty and six’’. 


From this he deduces that the name Adonikam must 
be the number of the beast. It means, the Lord arises. 
As given in Jackson’s Dictionary of Scripture Names 
it is, the Lord of rising up. And Hengstenberg sees 
in this a reference to the rising up again of the beast 
after it had received its death-wound, so to speak. I 
make a note of this interesting suggestion, that the 
reader may have the benefit of it; but I do not pass 
judgment upon it. 

As regards the application of the prophecy as a 
whole, Bengel notes the fact that, 


“As old as is the description here given of the papacy, so old 
also is the testimony to the truth by which this prophecy is 
applied to the papacy. This was done long ago by the Wal- 
denses, and afterwards by the followers of Wicliff and Huss. 
Such was the case before Luther’s time, and by him the light 
was more widely diffused”’. 


But Bengel is here referring to the first beast; for 
with Vitringa he held that, ‘The beast from the sea is 
the pope; the beast from the earth is that power which 





428 The Patmos Visions 


supports and defends the pope’s authority’, instancing 
the various religious orders, Franciscans, Dominicans, 
Jesuits, etc. But Hengstenberg points out various and 
serious objections to this view, saying for instance that, 


“It would be singular if the heathen persecution, which 
began soon after our Lord’s ascension and raged for centuries, 
under which also John himself had to suffer, should have been 
entirely unnoticed, and yet a persecution be delineated which 
did not commence till a thousand years afterwards’. 


To this I heartily assent; but there is much more 
to oppose to Bengel’s view. For the evidence pre- 
sented above makes it clear to my mind that the first 
part of Chapter XIII refers to, and exactly delineates, 
the Roman Empire, and the persecutions the people of 
God endured at its hands; and that the second part of 
the chapter as clearly pictures Papal Rome, exercising 
‘‘all the power of the first beast before him”. There- 
fore it strikes me as strange indeed that Hengstenberg, 
who saw so clearly the meaning of the first symbolic 
beast, should not have recognized the papacy in the 
second, which he makes out to be “‘the wisdom of this 
world, lending its support to the God-opposing power 
of this world”. This is a very weak invention; for it 
makes the two beasts to be merely the respective sym- 
bols of two attributes of one and the same world-sys- 
tem. But Hengstenberg himself had shown, and most 
convincingly too, that the first beast represents heathen 
world-government itself, in its totality. Hence the 
wisdom of the world is as much embraced in the sym- 
bols that delineate the first beast as is the power of the 





The Vision of the Two Wild Beasts | 429 


world. Nor would it be possible, by this view of the 
vision, to explain why the first beast arises out of the 
sea, and the second, at a later time, out of the earth. 
For surely the wisdom of the world did not have a 
different origin, and a later one, than the power of the 
world. Neither is it possible by this view to explain 
the exercising by the second beast of all the power of 
the first beast “before him’’; for we cannot conceive 
of such an action as the transfer of “all the power”’ of 
‘the power of the world’ to “the wisdom of the 
world”’.. 

I am convinced, therefore, that the explanation of 
this vision, given in the foregoing pages, is in the main 
correct, notwithstanding there may be in it manifold 
imperfections and errors as to details. I was myself 
very reluctant to part with the long-cherished idea that 
the second beast represents a personal antichrist to 
come. ‘That such an one is coming, I do not doubt; 
but the facts have compelled me to accept the view 
stated above. Whether they are sufficient or not to 
support it, is a matter for the reader’s individual 
judgment. 

What then is to be the outcome of the great move- 
ments of our times? This is not the appropriate point 
at which to introduce a discussion of that question; so 
I will only say that my later observations confirm the 
view presented in the book quoted above (The Num- 
ber of Man) which briefly is this: The movements now 
in progress in the three great departments of human 
affairs, the political, the commercial, and the religious, 





430 The Patmos Visions 


are converging to one end, and will eventuate in a 
single system, comprehending in its vast embrace all 
human affairs of every sort and kind. This monstros- 
ity will be a supergovernment, and will be headed, dur- 
ing its briéf career, by the “superman”, for whom the 
world is looking. Its religion will be “Humanism”, 
the worship of Man. All the “progressive’’, ‘‘liberal”’ 
and “‘modernistic’ forces in the religious field are 
thoroughly humanistic. ‘The “Church of Man’’, the 
“Universal Brotherhood” is already an ideal; and 
will ere long have at least a formal realization. 
And while on the surface it may appear that these 
new religious tendencies are the opposite in many 
respects to Catholicism, the reverse is the case. For 
Catholicism too is thoroughly humanistic; and in the 
person of the pope a mere human being is already wor- 
shipped by millions. It will therefore be but the nat- 
ural outcome of existing tendencies and potencies for 
all the religious systems and forces, “Christian” in 
name, which are opposed to the gospel of Christ, to 
amalgamate under the headship of the pope. As I 
see it there are but two things requisite for the accom- 
plishment of what is briefly outlined above: first, a 
sufiicient motive, which must be one that has a world- 
wide appeal; second, an adequate political machine also 
capable of embracing the whole world. And these 
necessary things already exist. The first is seen in the 
insistent and universal demand for WORLD-PEACE; and 
the second in the LeacuE or NaTIons. And in esti- 
mating the possibilities of the present situation, account 








The Vision of the Two Wild Beasts 431 


must be specially taken of the great expansion of the 
political influence of the Vatican since the great Eu- 
ropean War, and of the fact that political leaders are 
more and more looking in that direction for the sal- 
vation of the world, and of civilization. This interest- 
ing part of our subject will receive fuller treatment in 
the last chapter of this volume. 


CHAPTER X 


Seven Visions of the Time of the End | 


Rev. 14:1-5 


‘And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and 
with Him an hundred forty and four thousand, having His 
Father’s name written in their foreheads. And I heard a voice 
from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a 
great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with 
their harps: And they sung as it were a new song before the 
throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man 
could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four 
thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. These are 
they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. 
These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. 
These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits 
unto God, and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found 
no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God”. 


HE history of the two beasts is interrupted at the 
| Oe of Chapter XIII, to be resumed and finished 

in subsequent visions. Chapter XIII shows us 
the coming into existence of those two beasts, and it 
pictures their character, and especially their murderous 
hatred and persecution of the people of God. Their 
end is shown in Chapter XIX. 

Chapter XIV contains a complete program of seven 
numbers. It is a series within a series; a wheel within 
a wheel. These are the several parts thereof :— 

1. The Lamb and the 144,000 on Mount Sion 
(verses 1-5 quoted above). 


432° 





Seven Visions of the Time of the End 433 


2. The angel with the everlasting gospel (verses 
G.4/").. | 

3. Another angel announcing the fall of Babylon 
(verse 8). 

4. The third angel with a special warning against 
worshipping the beast, or receiving his mark (verses 
9-12). 

5. The voice crying, ‘‘Blessed are the dead who die 
in the Lord” (verse 13). 

6. ‘The harvest of the earth (verses 14-16). 

7. The vintage of the earth (verses 17-20). 

As in the case of the trumpet series, so here, we get 
our bearing as to the time of the events revealed in 
this entire group of visions from the last of the series. 
For the vintage of the earth is plainly God’s final 
judgment upon the wickedness of man, and His exterm- 
ination thereof root and branch, in ‘“‘the great wine- 
press of the wrath of God’’. It is a summary of “‘the 
seven last plagues’ (15:1), whereof the details are 
given in Chapter XVI. So this series of visions con- 
ducts us to the very end of the day of wrath. There- 
fore its starting-point must be sought for at some 
earlier epoch. 

The next to the last of the series shows us “‘the har- 
vest of the earth’. A cloud is seen, of that dazzling 
whiteness so often referred to in this Book, and always 
applied to that with which the brightness of the glory 
of God is associated; and upon the cloud is One like 
unto the Son of man, who forthwith proceeds to reap 
the harvest of the earth. This vision registers with 





434. The Patmos Visions 


Chapter 11:12, where God’s witnesses of the last days 
are caught up to heaven “in a cloud’’; and it corres- 
ponds with what is described in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 
the descending of the Lord from heaven, and the 
catching away of His people “‘in the clouds’, to meet 
Him in the air. 

At the fourth of this series we find ourselves in the 
period of the reign of the beast; and the second pre- 
sents a time of great activity in the gospel, corres- 
ponding to that of the final testimony of God’s wit- 
nesses (Chapter 11:3-6). Thus we are able to approx- 
imate the time of the beginning of this group. 

Viewing the chapter as a whole, it shows us the 
winding up of the affairs of the world in a group of 
seven successive pictures. It stands related to the days 
of the seventh trumpet in the same manner as Chapter 
VII, (the sealing of the 144,000) is related to the 
seventh seal. 

1. ‘The sight that greets John’s eye in this vision is 
in striking contrast with that of the preceding chapter. 
Instead of a hideous beast rising out of the sea, he be- 
holds a Lamb standing on Mount Sion, and with Him 
144,000. These have His Father’s name in their fore- 
heads, in contrast with those of the preceding vision 
who have the mark of the beast in their foreheads. It 
may be inferred, therefore, that the design of the 
vision is to comfort the people of God by showing 
them, at a time when seemingly all the world is won- 
dering ‘after the beast, that there is nevertheless 
another company, who “follow the Lamb whithersoever 





Seven Visions of the Time of the End 435 


He goeth”. From various indications it is clear that 
this 144,000 is a symbolic number, representing the 
whole company of the saved, and not some select por- 
tion thereof. What was said concerning the 144,000 
of Chapter VII, would lead to that conclusion. The 
twelve times twelve is the signature of the eternal city, 
the home of all the redeemed; and the numerical identi- 
fications in this Book are specially to be heeded. 
Furthermore, it is stated that they stand with the 
Lamb on Mount Sion, and this, in the light of Hebrews 
12:22, is decisive; for it is there written to and of 
those who, one and all, are looking unto Jesus, the 
crucified One, as the author and finisher of their faith 
(v. 2), that “ye are come unto Mount Sion, and unto 
the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and 
to an innumerable company of angels’ etc. The vision 
agrees perfectly with, and clearly illustrates that great 
passage in Hebrews 12:18-24. It agrees also with the 
statements of Ephesians 2 :4-6, previously referred to, 
namely, that we are quickened together with Christ, 
and raised up together, and seated together in heavenly 
places. ‘[hese statements apply to all who believe in 
Jesus Christ. The comfort and encouragement which 
this vision conveys is the same whereof the apostle 
wrote, and which was imparted to him by “‘the Father 
of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforteth us 
in all our tribulation”, namely, that “‘this present light 
affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a 
far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while 
we look not at the things which are seen, but at the 





4.36 The Patmos Visions 


things which are not seen” (2 Cor. 1:3, 4; 4:17, 18). 
This vision simply lifts the vail, so that those who 
suffer for the truth’s sake from the powers of earth 
may look away to the things that the natural eye can- 
not see, but which God has prepared for them that 
love Him. 

While John beholds this sight, he also hears a voice 
from heaven as that of many waters, and as the voice 
of a great thunder, and the voice of harpers, singing 
a new song before the throne. ‘The voice, while of 
tremendous volume, comparable to that of many 
. waters and of a great thunder, was nevertheless a 
melodious “‘song’’, to the accompaniment of harps. 
Again in Chapter 19:6, the voice of the multitude in 
heaven who rejoice over the fall of Babylon is likened 
to “the voice of many waters and the voice of mighty 
thunderings”’. In a previous vision, those who sing 
the new song, falling down before the Lamb as He 
takes the throne and the seven-sealed book, have harps; 
and the words of their song declare them to be the 
redeemed out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, 
and nation (5:8,9). And here again, those who stand 
with the Lamb on Mount Sion are said to be they 
who “were redeemed from among men”’ (y. 4). 

The ‘‘new song”’ is here, as in 5:9; represented as 
being sung by those to whom it relates. 


“The new song which no one can learn except the 144,000, 
corresponds to the new name, which no one knows save him 
who receives it (2:17). Even now on earth no one but the 
true believer can learn the songs of Sion. For all others they 





— 


Seven Visions of the Time of the End 437 


are too high. How glorious then must that be which entirely 
transcends all the natural powers of comprehension! How 
exuberant the joy of these who are there made happy with 
the name of Christ! The 144,000 are described as those who 
have been redeemed from the earth. ‘The costly price is the 
blood of Christ (5:9) by virtue whereof they have pressed 
through everything that would have arrested their progress 
toward heaven. ‘The phrase ‘from the earth’ is explained by 
the ‘out of every kindred, and tongue’ etc. of 5:9” (Hengsten- 
berg). 


The presence of the four living creatures and the 
four and twenty elders serves further to emphasize the 
part which the earth takes in this heavenly scene. 

The 144,000 are described as those who are “not 
defiled with women; for they are virgins’. This, and 
what is said of them in verse 5, is a description of 
what they are as new creatures in Christ Jesus. What 
is here said is true of all the redeemed. It would be 
a most carnal interpretation of the passage to make it 
mean that only such as have led a celibate life on earth 
are among the 144,000. Even Roman Catholic ex- 
positors, with all their desire to exalt celibacy, do not 
so misread it. l/l believers are viewed as chaste vir- 
gins, and as having been presented to Christ as such 
(2 Cor. 11:2). And this results not from the chastity 
and blamelessness of their own conduct, but solely from 
the merit of the blood of Jesus Christ, which ‘‘cleanseth 
us from all sin” (1 J. 1:7). 

It is further said that “these are they which follow 
the Lamb whithersoever he goeth’’; and this again is 
what characterizes all of Christ’s sheep; for He has 





438 The Patmos Visions 


said, ‘‘My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and 
they follow Me’ (John 10:27). 

They are also described as “‘the first fruits unto God 
and to the Lamb”. This does not mark them off as a 
separate company, selected out of the general mass of 
believers. James says of those whom God had begot- 
ten with the word of truth, that they were “‘a kind of 
firstfruits of His creatures” (Jam. 1:18). The “‘first- 
fruits’ of the Mosaic economy was simply that which 
was set apart as God’s portion of the produce of the 
earth. So likewise the ‘redeemed from among men”’, 
as these 144,000 are expressly said to be, are simply 
God’s portion of the children of men. In other words, 
they are the Israel of God, as it is written, ‘Israel was 
holiness unto the Lord, the firstfruits of His increase”’ 
(Jer. 2:3). The thought is that God gives the “‘in- 
crease’ of men, just as He gives that of the fruits of 
the ground (for ‘the fruit of the womb is His re- 
ward’, Ps. 127, 3) ; and that His portion or ‘Israel’, 
is so to speak, the firstfruits thereof. 

Further it is said of the 144,000 that “‘in their 
mouth was found no guile; for they are without fault 
before the throne of God” (v. 5). It is part of what 
Christ undertakes to do for His people to present them 
“faultless before the presence of His glory with ex- 
ceeding joy” (Jude 24). It is manifest that this is pre- 
cisely the position, and also the condition of this 
144,000. It is impossible therefore to make them a 
special or select company, distinguished from the rest 
by the exceptional sanctity of their lives while on earth. 





Seven Vane of the Time of the End 439 


2. “And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, 
having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell 
on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and 
people; saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to 
Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him 
that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of 
waters”. 

The second scene of this group of visions is very 
different in subject from the first. An angel is seen 
flying in the midst of heaven. He has “‘the everlasting 
gospel’, and it is for the whole world; for it is 
preached to (lit. upon, or over) “every nation, and 
kindred, and tongue and people”. These are terms of 
the very widest scope. The gospel which this angel 
has is the one unchangeable gospel, the everlasting 
gospel, that concerning which the apostle said ‘‘though 
we (apostles) or an angel from heaven preach any 
other gospel unto you, than that which we have 
preached unto you, let him be accursed” (Gal 1:9). 
It is the gospel whereof in another place he said, 
‘‘which is come unto you, as it is in all the world” 
(Col. 1:6) ; that is to say, the one unchangeable gospel 
that was for the whole world. For, in the words of 
Christ in His great parable of the harvest-field (to 
which this chapter has special reference) ‘‘the field is 
the world” (Mat. 13:38). The angel is ‘flying’, 
which speaks of celerity; and inasmuch as the angels 
are beings which “excel in strength”, this picture pre- 
sents vividly to the mind the thought of a season of 
vigorous and rapid evangelization of the tribes of 
earth. There is an obvious connection between this 


440 The Patmos Visions 


vision and the sixth of the series, in which the Son of 
man comes to gather the harvest of the earth. From 
the two we may properly infer that a time of special 
gospel effort, vigorous in character, swift in movement, 
and universal in scope, was to precede the harvest. 
And to this agrees the word of the Lord, ‘‘And this 
gospel of the kingdom’’, which is none other than the 
everlasting gospel, “‘shall be preached in all the world 
for a witness unto all nations. And then shall the end 
come” (Mat. 24:14). 

As has been already stated, this scene seems to co- 
incide as to time, with the final testimony of God’s wit- 
nesses (Chap. 11:3-12). Their testimony reached all 
the world, as is evident from the reference in verse 9 
to “the people, and kindreds, and tongues, and na- 
tions’. ‘That scene is followed by another in which 
the witnesses, after having been put to death by the 
beast, are revived and caught up to heaven “‘in a cloud”’. 
So here the testimony of the angel is followed, first, by 
a reference to the beast (v. 9) ; then by a proclamation 
of the blessedness of the dead which die in the Lord 
from henceforth (v. 13); and then by the appearance 
of the Son of man coming for His redeemed ones, on a 
“white cloud’. 

Those who defer all the visions of this Book after 
Chapter III to a dispensation subsequent to the gospel 
era, are compelled by the exigences of their system of 
interpretation to make “the everlasting gospel”, 
another gospel, one which brings to those who receive 
it another salvation. But this necessary implication of 





Seven Visions of the Time of the End 441 


the futurist system should be enough in itself to expose 
to all discerning minds its thoroughly unscriptural 
character. All Scripture bears witness to the great 
and fundamental truth that there is but one gospel, and 
one salvation, but one Name given under heaven 
among men whereby we must be saved, but “‘one body”’ 
of the redeemed, the one church of God, embracing all 
the saved from Adam, Eve and Abel down to the end 
of time; but one “household of God”’ embracing “‘the 
whole family in heaven and earth” (Eph. 3:15), one 
Lord, one faith, one Spirit, one baptism, one God and 
Father of all (Eph. 4:3-6). 

Furthermore the Scriptures also bear the clearest 
testimony to the fact, as already pointed out, that there 
will be no salvation. for any part of the human race 
after the close of this gospel dispensation. Hence we 
are compelled to place the passage we are now con- 
sidering before the second advent of Christ. 

And certainly it is most strange that any should take 
the words of the angel recorded in verse 7 to be the 
everlasting gospel. For clearly there is no gospel in 
them at all. They are words of exhortation and warn- 
ing, addressed to the inhabitants of earth, calling upon 
them to fear God and give glory to Him, for the 
reason that “the hour of His judgment is come”. Thus 
likewise Paul in his day impressed upon his hearers the 
vital importance of giving heed to the gospel of God, 
because of the coming judgment (Ac. 13:41; 17:31; 
Rom. 2:16, etc.). But it would be a sad error to mis- 
take the warning of coming judgment for the gospel 





442 The Patmos Visions 


of God concerning His Son. ‘The call to the inhabi- 
tants of the earth to worship Him that made the 
heaven and earth, the sea and fountains of waters, has 
obvious reference to the worship of the beast which 
is to prevail at that time. See Acts 14:15, where Paul, 
speaking to the heathen, says: ‘“‘We preach unto you 
that ye should turn from these vanities to the living 
God, who made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all 
things that are therein’. Now that “‘the glorious gos- 
pel of the blessed God” (1 Tim. 1:11) has been fully 
revealed and published to the world, and has been 
“made known to all nations for the obedience of faith” 
(Rom. 16:26), it is certain that there could never be in 
any subsequent day a Jesser gospel. There could be no 
returning to those ‘‘days of ignorance” which were be- 
fore the gospel era began. Much less is it conceivable 
that there could be, ina later day, a species of salvation 
different in kind from that which is now preached, and 
received in some way other than by simple faith in 
Jesus Christ, the slain Lamb, Who is risen from the 
dead. 

Even in the time of shadows, salvation was by faith 
in God who quickeneth the dead (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 
4:17); and it was based upon blood atonement. The 
gospel, as preached in Eden to the first sinners of the 
human race, was the gospel of redemption; and there 
the blood of innocent creatures was shed to meet their 
need as sinners. The sin-offering was from the very 
start the only ground of the sinner’s acceptance with 
God (Heb. 11:4). Yet there be some among the 





——— 


Seven Visions of the Time of the Big 443 


most orthodox teachers in our day who teach that, in 
the next dispensation, after the removal of the people 
of God from the earth, there will be a company of 
people saved out of all nations (“‘tribulation saints”, 
they are pleased to call them), saved by a gospel which 
has in it no sin-offering, no Saviour, no blood redemp- 
tion. And not only so, but they even say that that 
‘“gospel’’, which is such as never was from the entrance 
of sin into the world until now, is “‘the everlasting 
gospel’. Surely any system of interpretation that in- 
volves a doctrine so subversive of the truth of the 
gospel, and so contrary to the words of the text itself, 
is condemned by that fact alone. 

The words of the angel, ‘‘for the hour of His judg- 
ment is come’, clearly indicate that we have here a 
scene which immediately precedes the blowing of the 
seventh trumpet. 


3. “And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is 
fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations 
drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication”. 


The third vision of the series is closely linked with 
the second. For in that was announced the hour of 
God’s judgment; and in this it is announced that Baby- 
lon is fallen, that great city; this being the judgment 
referred to by the preceding angel. For all the doings 
of men, all their great enterprises, projects and activi- 
ties, eventuate in that state of godless civilization and 
worldly grandeur whereof great Babylon of antiquity 
was the type, and the great Babylon of the Apocalypse 





A4A The Patmos Visions 


is the divine symbol. This announcement looks on to 
Chapter XVIII. For so important in the eyes of God 
is this coming event, the destruction of mystical 
Babylon, that, in addition to several references to it, 
an entire vision is given to the revealing of the details 
thereof. Babylon here stands for the entire world- 
system, in all its grandeur and magnificence, and not 
specially the religious aspect thereof. The latter in its 
final phase is pictured separately by the scarlet-clad 
woman of Chapter XVII, who also bears the name 
“Babylon”, with the qualifying prefix ‘‘Mystery” 
(17:5). The city, Babylon the great, has strong at- 
tractions, not for the religiously-minded only, but also 
for the many who are wholly irreligious. And it is the 
power of allurement, the fascinating attractiveness of 
the world, its power to seduce the hearts of men from 
God, Who has a just claim to their undivided affections, 
that is emphasized by this vision. This clearly appears 
by the words, ‘‘Because she made all nations drink of 
the wine of the wrath of her fornication”. Many of 
God’s dealings with men, and many passages of Scrip- 
ture otherwise obscure, become clear in the light of the 
great truth that “God is love’. And herein does man’s 
likeness to God chiefly consist, that he was made cap- 
able of loving, after the same manner, though not after 
the same measure, as God Himself loves. Therefore, 
the great commandment of the law is, and needs must 
be “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy 
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” 
(Mat. 22:37). Nothing less than this is God’s due; 





Seven Visions of the Time of the End 445 


and nothing less can He require of His people. There- 
fore, there is no greater wrong done to God, and hence 
no greater sin, than the bestowal upon another object 
of the affections of the human heart, which are right- 
fully His. It follows that whatever seduces the affec- 
tions away from God must needs be the object of His 
severest condemnation and of His jealous anger. And 
this is the sin of Babylon, as a type of the world; as it 
is written: ‘‘Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye 
not that the friendship of the world is enmity against 
God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the 
world is the enemy of God” (Jam. 4:4). The supreme 
object of the mission of Christ was to restore to God 
the hearts of His human creatures. ‘This is the result 
of His cross; for the Spirit of Christ in the prophet, 
in a passage that vividly pictures His sufferings on the 
cross, exclaims, “Then I restored that which I took 
not away” (Psa. 69:1-4). 

The making of the nations drunk with wine is an 
image of frequent occurrence in the O. T. The point 
of the comparison is found in the misery, degradation, 
helplessness and shamefulness of the condition into 
which men are brought by indulgence in excess of wine. 
Jeremiah 51:7 is particularly pertinent because the lit- 
eral Babylon is there the subject of the prophecy: 
‘Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord’s hand, 
that made all the earth drunken: the nations have 
drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad’. 
And the next verse announces God’s judgment upon 
her: “Babylon is suddenly fallen, and destroyed’. 





446 The Patmos Visions 


That the end of the antitypical “Babylon” is to come 
suddenly is emphasized in Chapter XVIII of the 
Apocalypse. Jeremiah 25:15-28 describes how God 
will cause the nations of the earth to take the cup of 
His fury, and to drink of it. See also Hab. 2:15, 16 
and Na. 3:11). The repetition of the announcement 
of Babylon’s fall (“‘is fallen, is fallen’; see also 18:2) 
—may be understood by reference to Joseph’s explana- 
tion to Pharaoh of the fact that his dream was doubled: 
‘And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh 
twice; it is because the thing is established, and God 
will shortly bring it to pass” (Gen. 41:32). 


4. “And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud 
voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive 
his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of 
the wine of the wrath of God which is poured out without 
mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tor- 
mented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy 
angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: and the smoke of 
their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no 
rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and 
whosoever receiveth the mark of his name”. 


Just as the third vision of this series is linked with 
the second by specifying the judgment there announced 
in general terms, so likewise the fourth is linked with 
the third by the warning that they who worship the 
beast and his image shall drink of the wine of the 
wrath of God. ‘This vision also connects itself with 
the vision of Chapter XIII, and shows that the three 
preceding numbers of this series were leading up to this 
one, which has the place of central importance. Par- 





Seven Visions of the Time of the End 447 


ticularly do the words of verse 12, ‘‘Here is: the 
patience of the saints’ etc., refer us back to the like 
words of Chapter 13:10. It is evidently a danger of 
the most fearful sort that is here foreseen; for the 
terms in which the warning is expressed are the strong- 
est that could be used. Every power with which Satan 
can endow the beast, and every means and deception 
his cunning can devise, will be brought into play, in that 
last stage of human affairs, to draw away the affections, 
devotion and zeal of men, to the beast. Among the 
emotions that will be aroused and worked up to the 
highest pitch is that called “patriotism”, the blind, 
fanatical love of some earthly country. It is a matter 
of deep significance that in our public school system 
patriotism is now being made virtually a religion. In- 
creasing attention is given to patriotic songs, days, and 
ceremonies. And the flag, to which our school children 
are compelled to do homage, is one of the things which 
become an ideal or “image” of the beast government, 
and under which men worship it. ‘This danger is very 
real, and very imminent. Therefore, we should lay 
these solemn words to heart, and be ever upon our 
guard against the peril whereof they warn us. 

The fearful punishment that awaits those who wor- 
ship the beast and his image is two-fold: First, they 
shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God; second, 
they shall suffer the punishments of hell. The first 
judgment falls upon them here, in this world; the 
second, in the world to come. The passage on which 
the first of these punishments is based is Psalm 75:8, 





448 The Patmos Visions 


‘For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, with foam- 
ing wine; it is full of mixture, and He poureth out of 
the same: Surely the dregs thereof, all the wicked of 
the earth shall drain them, and drink them“ (Jewish 
Version). Jeremiah XXV is also in view, concerning 
which Bengel remarks, ‘Jeremiah must, out of a cup 
of wine full of wrath from God’s hand, pour out to 
many nations; by which was meant the misery that 
the king of Babylon was to bring on them’. See also 
Isaiah 51:17, 22; and Jeremiah 49 :12. 

The reference to the torment of fire and brimstone 
is based primarily upon the destruction of Sodom and 
Gomorrah (Gen. 19:24), to which the Lord Himself 
referred, saying, “‘But the same day that Lot went out 
of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, 
and destroyed them all” (Lu. 17:29). On the 
strength of these and other like passages the fire of 
brimstone is used in this Book as an image of the tor- 
ments of hell (Chaps. 19:20; 20:10; 21:8). 

5. “And I heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me, Write, 
Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: 


Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and 
their works do follow them’’. 


Here is a word of strong consolation. It is most 
appropriate at this point, for it has reference especially 
to a time when many will be faced with the dread alter- 
native of death or worship of the beast. ‘There is a 
wonderful difference, in the light of Scripture, between 
those who die “in the Lord’ (“the dead in Christ’, 





Seven Visions of the Time of the End 449 


1 Th. 4:16) and those who die in their sins (John 
S221). 

‘“The dead who die in the Lord” are blessed from 
henceforth. The word means literally from now, i. e. 
from the very moment of death. Its meaning is illus- 
trated by the word of the Lord Jesus to the thief on 
the cross: ‘‘Verily I say unto thee, today thou shalt be 
with Me in paradise” (Lu. 23:43). 

Hengstenberg makes this edifying comment: 


“This word from henceforth isa precious jewel, an antidote 
against the cheerless doctrine that would make a long night go 
before the bright day; such for example, as theirs is, who dream 
of a sleep of the soul. The real sting of the comfortless charac- 
ter of this doctrine is not in its throwing the full inheritance of 
salvation so far back; but rather in that the throwing back is 
so much at variance with the essential nature of faith, that the 
matter itself becomes thereby uncertain. If as our Lord de- 
clared, ‘he that heareth My word . . . hath everlasting life 

. and is passed from death into life,’ then the soul’s life in 
Christ can suffer no interruption; and whenever any interrup- 
tion is believed to exist, eternal life itself is indirectly denied”. 


Special force is given to this passage by the word “‘Yea, 
saith the Spirit”, which puts it among the things the 
Spirit is now saying to the churches. The words ‘‘that 
they may res?’’, points to a state of conscious enjoy- 
ment, as in Genesis 2:1, 2. The words, ‘“‘and their 
works do follow them’, implies a reward awaiting 
them there for their good works here. As Bengel 
says, ‘“The following of the works indicates that there 
is to be a reward”. ‘To the same effect is the assur- 
ance given by the apostle Paul, “For as much as ye 


cease 5 RRC RT SE RE SEYRET ET DOI TORT TESST TS EY SSE SPIES SESS 
AGO he The Patmos Visions 


know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 


Cor. 15:58). 
6. “And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the 


cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on His head a 
golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle. And another 
angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him 
that sat on the cloud, Thrust in Thy sickle, and reap: for the 
time is come for Thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is 
ripe. And He that sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the 
earth; and the earth was reaped”. 


The meaning of this vision is very plain in the light 
of the Lord’s parable of the tares of the field (Mat. 
13 :24-30; 36-43). That parable begins with these 
words: ‘“The Kingdom of heaven is likened (lit. be- 
come like) unto a man which sowed good seed in his 
field’. ‘This is the Lord’s own picture of the kingdom 
of heaven as it was to be down to “‘the end of the age” 
(v. 39). That to which the parable gives prominence 
is the devil’s activity in sowing tares, ‘“‘the children of 
the wicked one’’, among the wheat, “‘the children of the 
kingdom’’; and that he is allowed to do so without 
hindrance. But what chiefly concerns us for the 
moment is the harvest. As to this the Lord said: 


‘The harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are the 
angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the 
fire, so shall it be in the end of this age. The Son of man (cf. 
Rev. 14:14) shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather 
out of His Kingdom all things that offend, and them that do 
iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall 
be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous 
shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. Who 
hath ears to hear, let him hear’’. 


[SS a a SS GZ TM TS PTFA RTEETEE TCE EE LP ETON 


Seven Visions of the Time of the End 451 


The vision agrees so closely with this description of 
the harvest at the end of the gospel age, that it is not 
necessary to point out the resemblances. The designa- 
tion of Christ as the ‘Son of man’, which occurs in 
only one other place in this Book (Rev. 1:13), 1s 
intended no doubt to direct attention to the parable. 
In the Lord’s explanation of the parable He tells of 
the separation of the tares from the wheat just before 
the reaping takes place. We have seen that such a 
work of separation is indicated as taking place just be- 
fore the blowing of the seventh trumpet (11:1, 2), 
the separation being there followed by the catching 
away of God’s witnesses ‘in a cloud’’, which corres- 
ponds with the reaping of the earth in the vision, and 
with the gathering of the wheat into the barn in the 
parable (Mat. 13:30). In Chapter XIV the separa- 
tion again appears conspicuously, in that the judgment 
upon the wicked who are left (the tares of the parable, 
which are bound in bundles ready to be burned) is 
shown in a separate vision, that of the vintage and 
winepress, which is the next and last of this series. 

That the Son of man, as seen in this vision, has on 
His head a golden crown indicates clearly that He is 
come in the character of King. ‘This accords with the 
parable of the nobleman who was to go into a far 
country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return 
(Lu. 19:12. See comments on Chap: V). I am-at a 
loss to see on what principles of exegesis this coming of 
the Son of man to reap the harvest of the earth can be 
deferred to the close of a future dispensation, or made 


beat 9 OAT Pe RS VS EECA ECE URANUS DMO ATS TRE EA TR STENTS SENT | 


452 The Patmos Visions 


—— 


to mean anything but the coming of Christ described 
in 1 Corinthians 15:52, and 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-17. 


7. “And another angel came out of the temple which is in 
heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came 
out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with 
a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in 
thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; 
for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle 
into the earth, and gathered the vine.of the earth, and cast it 
into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the wine- 
press was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the 
winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand 
and six hundred furlongs”. 


The angel who executes this judgment comes out 
from the altar, and he has power over fire. This 
brings to mind the vision of Chapter 8:1-5, which 
occurs immediately after the opening of the seventh 
seal. ‘here an angel is seen standing at the altar, who, 
after offering up the prayers of the saints, adding much 
incense thereto, takes fire from the altar and casts it 
upon the earth, when, in the voices, thunderings, light- 
nings and earthquake, there were threatenings of judg- 
ments about to fall upon the earth. This plainly 
registers with the scene now before us, in which the 
vine of the earth is removed altogether, root and 
branch, and is cast into the great winepress of the 
wrath of God. The figure represents a work of judg- 
ment thorough and complete. 

The winepress is said to be trodden without the city. 
This may be understood in the light of Chapter 22:15, 
where, speaking of the heavenly city, it is said, “with- 





Seven Visions of the Time of the End 453 


out are dogs’, etc. Nothing that is unclean or defiling 
is to enter into that city. 

Christ is the treader of the winepress of God’s wrath 
(Isa. 63:3, 4); and we are now told that when this 
“great” winepress is trodden, blood flows out of it in 
a stream of such volume that it rose even to the horse 
bridles, and for a length of 1600 furlongs. The men- 
tion of the horse bridles connects this scene with that 
of Chapter 19:11-16, where Christ appears mounted 
upon a white horse, clothed in a vesture dipped in 
blood; and followed by the armies of heaven, also 
mounted upon white horses. 

This seventh vision gives only the general result. 
It tells us that the vine of the earth is completely re- 
moved, and it conducts us to the series of the vials, in 
which the details of this great work of judgment are 
shown. | | 


CHAPTER XI 


The Seven Vials 


“And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, 
seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled 


up the wrath of God” (15:1). 


HIS is the third and last of the three great signs 
in heaven described by John in this Book. The 
first is the woman clothed with the sun, having 
the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of 
twelve stars (12:1, the word “‘wonder”’ there, and in 
vy. 3, being the 'same'as “‘sign” in 15:1). That-was 
the sign of God’s purpose in the creation of man to in- 
vest him with supreme governmental power and glory. 
It appeared at that point as the proper beginning of 
the history of Jesus Christ, the Man-child, in whom 
that purpose was to be accomplished. It is the sign of 
the mystery of Godliness, “God manifest in the flesh, 
justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the 
Gentiles, received up into glory” (1 Tim. 3:16). 
The second “‘sign in heaven” (12:3) is the great red 
dragon, the great opposer of God’s purpose, the one 
who has the power of death, who had succeeded in 
bringing the whole family of man under that power, 
and who purposed to resist to the uttermost the accom- 
plishment of God’s plan for the government of the 
earth. It is the sign of “the mystery of iniquity’, 
concerning which the apostle said in his day that “‘it 


454 


The Seven Vials igs 


doth already work’”’; and which will culminate in “that 
Wicked one, whom the Lord shall consume with the 
spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the bright- 
ness of His coming” (2 Th. 2:7, 8). Between these 
two, the Man-child and the dragon, the fight for the 
dominion of the world is to be fought. 

The third ‘sign in heaven”’ is the vision of the seven 
angels having the seven last plagues. It is described as 
‘“‘osreat and marvellous’, which refers to what was to 
be accomplished by those plagues, namely the complete 
and overwhelming destruction of the opposing forces, 
the might of the beast and the false prophet aided by 
all the power of the dragon. ‘This appears from the 
repetition of the phrase “‘great and marvellous” in 
verse 3, in the song of those who have gotten the vic- 
tory over the beast, who say, ““Great and marvellous are 
Thy works, . . . for Thy judgments are made mani- 
fest’. Thus the “sign” of the seven angels declares 
that events of transcendent importance are about to 
take place, events having the character of finality, and 
by means of which the eternal purpose of God pictured 
by the first sign in heaven, and proclaimed by the oath 
of the mighty Angel of Chapter X, is at last to be 
accomplished. 

What God is now about to do by means of these 
last plagues, is the subject of many prophecies, of which 
that of Zephaniah 3:8 said: 


“Therefore wait ye upon Me, saith the Lord, until the day 
that I rise up to the prey; for My determination is to gather 
the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon 








4.56 The Patmos Vistons 


them Mine indignation, even all My fierce anger: for ALL THE 
EARTH SHALL BE DEVOURED WITH THE FIRE OF My JEALOusY’”’. 


For what is specially emphasized in verse 1 of Rev. 
15, is that these are the Jast plagues; that by them the 
purpose of God will be fully accomplished ,“‘for in them 
the wrath of God is filled up’’. 


“And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and 
them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his 
Image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, 
stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And they 
sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the 
Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God 
Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, thou King of saints. 
Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? for 
Thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship 
before Thee; for Thy judgments are made manifest” (vv. 2-4). 


The vision of the seven angels constitutes the great 
and marvellous sign: And now we have another 
vision, introduced by the usual words, ‘‘And I saw’’. 
In this companion vision is seen a sea as it were of 
glass mingled with fire, upon which stand “the over- 
comers of the beast’ (that being the force of the 
words, as well as the literal rendering thereof) hav- 
ing the harps of God. 

This impressive scene connects with the preceding 
Chapters, XIII and XIV, showing us the great reward 
of those who refused to worship the beast and his 
image, and to receive his mark. The symbols used in 
this passage point distinctly to the passage of the Red 
Sea by those whom God delivered out of Egypt, where 
the ungodly world-power, Egypt, was overwhelmed, 





The Seven Vials 457 


and upon the shore of which the delivered people sang 
the song of victory. 

The word ‘plagues’, which was not used to desig- 
nate the trumpet judgments, is evidently a key-word, 
intended to refer us back to the parallel case of God’s 
deliverance of His afflicted people from Pharaoh, who 
typifies that whereof the beast is the symbol here. 
Those were the first ‘plagues’, a series of ten, which 
represents fullness of punitive visitations; these are the 
last, a series of seven, which represents completeness 
and finality. 

The “sea” in this vision is as it were of glass, min- 
gled with fire. The sea was that which overwhelmed 
Pharaoh and his hosts, God’s flood of judgments upon 
them. But God’s people walked safely through it. 
Here is a greater thing; for now His delivered people 
are represented as standing upon the sea. ‘The fire, 
with which this symbolical sea is mingled, shows that 
it represents the judgments of God, now fully accom- 
plished. ‘Chose who have gained the victory over the 
beast are represented as being above, that is to say, 
beyond the reach of, the sea of judgments. Their posi- 
tion corresponds with that of Noah and his family 
whom the ark kept always above the waters. That 
this symbolical sea is as it were ‘‘of glass’, may be 
taken as expressing the transparent purity and the per- 
fect justice of the acts of God, in bringing this flood 
of annihilating judgments upon the world of the un- 
godly (cf. 2 Pet. 2:5). The same thought is ex- 
pressed in the words of the song, “Just and true are 


458 The Patmos Visions 


Thy ways, Thou King of nations. . . . Thy judgments 
are made manifest”. (The reading ‘‘King of saints” 
of the A. V. has very slender support, and is, moreover, 
not in keeping with the sentiment of the passage. The 
true reading is, ‘“Thou King of the nations”, i. e. the 
heathen.) ‘he truth and righteousness of God’s judg- 
ments appear in that He manifests Himself as the 
King of the heathen. This is according to the word of 
the prophet: “Who would not fear Thee, O King of 
the nations?’’ (Jer. 10:7). 

Those who have “gotten the victory” have gotten it 
through no valor or might of their own. As declared in 
Chapter 12:11, “they overcame’ (same word as here 
rendered “gotten the victory’) “him (the dragon) by 
the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testi- 
mony’. Hence the song they sing is ‘“‘the song of the 
Lamb’, meaning not a song whereof He is the author, 
but whereof He is the theme. ‘That it is also called 
‘‘the song of Moses”’ helps to an understanding of the 
entire scene. For those few words tell us that what is 
here put before us is a situation of the same sort as 
that in which the children of Israel found themselves, 
when the Lord had “saved Israel out of the hand of 
the Egyptians, and Israel saw that great work, which 
the Lord did upon the Egyptians’; for “Then sang 
Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the 
Lord”: (Ex. 14:30; 15:1). It is a song,of exultant 
triumph, ascribing power, glory and salvation to the 
Lord, whose right hand had become glorious in power, 
whose right hand had dashed the enemy in pieces. 





The Seven Vials 459 


Another scene follows which, with the two preced- 
ing, constitutes the introduction to the vial series. 


“And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the 
tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened: And the 
seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, 
clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded 
with golden girdles. And one of the four beasts gave unto the 
seven angels seven golden vials, full of the wrath of God, who 
liveth for ever and ever. And the temple was filled with smoke 
from the glory of God, and from his power;.and no man was 
able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven 


angels were fulfilled” (vv. 5-8). 


The fact that it is not until now that the seven 
angels receive the seven golden vials, full of the wrath 
of God, shows that the scenes described in the pre- 
ceding verses are designed to give a pictorial summary 
anticipative of what was to follow. 

These seven angels issue forth out of the temple, 
which indicates that they are of high rank and dignity. 
This further appears by their clothing, which is pure 
linen of dazzling whiteness— (again we have the now 
familiar symbol of the glory of God) and by their 
being girded about their breasts with golden girdles 
(cf. 1:13). One of the cherubim hands to the angels 
the seven golden vials full of the wrath of God. The 
cherubim represent the earth and its creatures. So this 
agency of one of them in this matter is explained by 
the words of 16:1, “Go your ways, and pour out the 
vials of the wrath of God upon the earth’. 

The pouring out, or outpouring, is expressive of the 
copiousness and finality of this judgment, as may be in- 





460 The Patmos Visions 


ferred from several passages of the O. T. Thus we 
have in Psalm 79:6, “Pour out Thy wrath upon the 
heathen that have not known Thee, and upon the na- 
tions that have not called upon Thy Name’. This is 
repeated almost word for word in Jeremiah 10:25. 
Then in Zephaniah 3:8 we read: ‘Therefore wait ye 
upon Me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to 
the prey: for My determination is to gather the na- 
tions, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon 
them Mine indignation, even all My fierce anger. For 
all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of My 
jealousy”. ‘These are some of the prophecies that are 
to be fulfilled in the pouring out of the seven vials. 

The final verse of Chapter XV, which speaks of the 
temple’s being filled with smoke from the glory of 
God, rests upon Numbers 16:19, where the wrathful 
glory of God was manifested before the entire con- 
gregation; and upon Isaiah 6:4, where are found the 
words, ‘‘And the house was filled with smoke”. Ex- 
odus 40:34,35 also comes to mind: ‘“Then a cloud 
covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of 
the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not 
able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because 
the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord 
filled the tabernacle’. 

“And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the 


seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath 


of God upon the earth” (16:1). 





The Seven Vials 461 


The command to the seven angels to pour out their 
vials upon the earth is given by a “great voice’, that 
proceeds out of the temple. This must be the voice of 
God Himself, seeing that, from the last preceding 
verse, none other was able to enter the temple at that 
time. That accords also with Ezekiel 9:1, where the 
Lord called out “with a loud voice”, commanding His 
servants who were about to execute His vengeance 
upon the apostate people of Jerusalem, to go through 
the city and smite. Ezekiel, in interceding with God, 
speaks of this as the “pouring out of Thy fury upon 
Jerusalem” (v. 8). 

This command to the seven angels is executed with 
speed; for the pouring out of the seven vials, one after 
the other, proceeds swiftly to the end; and then at the 
pouring out of the seventh vial, there comes once more 
‘‘a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the 
throney saying, it’ is) done? (ve 17) > “Dhes phrase: 
“from the throne’, makes it certain that this great 
voice is the voice of God. 

Like the series of the seven seals, and that of the 
seven trumpets, the vial series is also divided into three 
groups. For, after the first group of three, there is an 
interruption caused by the saying of the angel of the 
waters, and the response from the altar (vv. 5-7) ; and 
again after the pouring out of the sixth vial, there is a 
word evidently spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ (v. 
15). 

The action of the first vial is upon the earth, that of 
the second upon the sea, that of the third upon the 





462 The Patmos Visions 


rivers and fountains of waters. In the second group 
of three, the fourth vial affects the sun, the fifth the 
throne of the beast, and the sixth opens the way for 
the instruments of God’s vengeance that are waiting 
beyond the river Euphrates. The last vial is poured 
out into the air. 


First VIAL 


“And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; 
and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which 
had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his 
image’ (v. 2). 

The regions that are affected respectively by the 
several vials are the same in most cases as those that 
were affected by the corresponding trumpets; for the 
first trumpet affected the earth, the second the sea, the 
third the rivers and fountains of waters, the fourth the 
sun, and the sixth loosed the four angels that were 
bound in the river Euphrates. This correspondence, 
however, is but faintly seen between the fifth of the 
respective series, and not at all in respect to the 
seventh. 

It has been already remarked that the word 
‘‘plagues’’, applied to the vial judgments, recalls God’s 
punitive dealings with the Egyptians; and it will be 
remembered that, in Chapter 11:8, “Egypt” is one of 
the names that is given to apostate Christendom. The 
significance of these terms becomes evident when the 
nature of these vial plagues is observed and the re- 
semblances between them and the plagues of Egypt are 





The Seven Vials 463 


noted. These will be pointed out in the comments 
below. 

At the pouring out of the first vial, there fell a 
noisome and grievous sore, that is to say a botch or 
eruption that cannot be healed, upon the men which 
had the mark of the beast, and which worshipped his 
image. The word “earth” here must be taken in the 
sense in which it is customarily used in this Book, that 
is to say, as designating the more settled, ordered, and 
stabilized part of the earth, as distinguished from the 
turbulent and restless ‘“‘sea”’ of the nations and peoples 
in general. Roughly speaking, “the earth” would 
designate the Western or christianized nations, and 
‘‘the sea’? (on which the second vial is poured out) 
would designate the surrounding peoples and tribes of 
Asia, |Africa, and South America. Hengstenberg’s 
comment expresses practically my understanding of it: 


“There must be an ‘earth’ upon the earth, which was set off 
as a special region for the first vial. . . . The commentary on 
the ‘earth’ is formed by ‘the men who have the mark of the 
beast’. The worshippers of the beast have themselves become 
beast-like’’. 


Those who are directly under the sovereignty of the 
beast would be more ready to worship him, than those 
in the remoter regions of the world. 

The grievous sore of the first vial is similar to the 
sixth of the plagues of Egypt, “a boil breaking forth 
with blains upon man and beast”’ (Ex. 9:8-12). ‘The 
boils there mentioned were of a peculiarly virulent and 
loathsome kind, for they are the source from which 





464. The Patmos Visions 


leprosy may break out (Lev. 13:20). In Deuter- 
onomy 28:27 the same disease is spoken of as “the 
botch of Egypt”; and in verse 35 of the same chapter 
it is described as ‘‘a sore botch that cannot be healed’’, 
and as a thing that might appear all over the body, 
from the sole of the foot to the top of the head. This 
plague in Egypt was no doubt literal and physical; but 
here, in keeping with the character of the Apocalypse, 
it probably represents a distemper or eruption of a 
moral character, breaking forth upon the surface of 
human society, something of which a putrid and loath- 
some ulcer would be an appropriate symbol. 


SECOND VIAL 


“And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and 
it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died 
in the sea” (v. 3). 


At the sounding of the second trumpet a great 
mountain, burning with fire, was cast into the sea, and 
a third part of the sea became blood. Here the same 
region is visited, the heathen world in general; but the 
destruction now is complete. There is a resemblance 
here to the first of the ten plagues of Egypt, when the 
waters of the river Nile were turned into blood, and 
the fish that were in the river died, and the river stank 
(Ex. 7:20, 21). It is quite evident that the plague in 
Egypt was literal, whereas that of the second vial is 
figurative; for the literal ocean would not be the sphere 
for a punitive visitation. The expression ‘became as 





The Seven Vials 465 


the blood of a dead man’’, is peculiar and somewhat 
obscure. It has been variously explained. Literally 
the phrase is ‘‘as the blood of one dead”. Having re- 
gard to this literal rendering, the words present to our 
minds the picture of mortality by violence upon an enor- 
mous scale. For “‘blood’’ is the symbol of death by 
violence; though ofttimes blood flows from wounds 
that are not mortal. In this case, however, it is the 
blood of death-wounds that is specified, the blood as of 
one dead; and the extent of this blood-shedding is so 
vast that the whole world of the miscellaneous nations 
(what is commonly called ‘‘the heathen world’’) is fig- 
uratively colored red thereby. This view of the pas- 
sage is suported by the last clause of the verse, “‘and 
every living soul that was in the sea died’. Hengsten- 
berg on this passage says: 


“That we are not to think here of some general mortality, 
but of the shedding of blood in war, is evident alone from the 
symbol of the sea, out of which the beast arose. In Chapter 
20:13 also, the dead that are in the sea are those who perished 
by a violent death in political conflicts. The scourge of destroy- 
ing war is placed before our eyes by a double image; first the 
changing of the sea into blood, second the dying of the living 
creatures in the sea. But the two, perhaps, are not simply co- 
ordinate. ‘The changing of the sea into blood may be referred 
to those who perish in actual battle; while the dying of all the 
living creatures in the sea may be understood of the infinitely 
greater number of those who die in consequence of the war, as 
by distress, hunger, sorrow and disconsolateness’’. 


One need not exert much power of imagination, 
when considering the present state of political affairs 








466 The Patmos Visions 





in Russia, China, North Africa, and elsewhere upon’ 
the fringes of civilization, in order to conceive of 
causes and agencies capable of bringing about the con- 
ditions pictured so vividly by the few words in which 
this vision is described. For such causes and agencies 
are already at work. 


THIRD VIAL 


“‘And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and 
fountains of waters; and they became blood. And I heard the 
angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, 
and wast, and shalt be, because Thou hast judged thus. For 
they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and Thou hast 
given them blood to drink; for they are worthy. And I heard 
another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true 
and righteous are Thy judgments” (vv. 4-7). 


The waters of rivers and fountains (or springs) are 
the sources of abundant, vigorous and fruitful vegeta- 
tion. Figuratively therefore they stand for whatever 
is conducive to the welfare and prosperity of the in- 
dividual or the community. The man whose delight is 
in the law of the Lord, and who meditates therein day 
and night, finds the Word of God to be to him like a 
fountain of water. He is “like a tree planted by the 
rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his 
season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever 
he doeth shall prosper’ (Psa. 1:1-3; also Jer. 17:7, 
8). Thus the highest application of this figure is to the 
sources of spiritual prosperity and fruitfulness, as was 
pointed out in the comments above on Chapter 8:10, 
11. But obviously the figure has a much wider applica- 





The Seven Vials 467 


tion, wide enough to embrace the sources also of ma- 
terial and worldly prosperity. And that must be what is 
in view here; for in the days in which this vision will be 
fulfilled there will be no springs of spiritual waters in 
the world. 

In the days of the third trumpet a third part of the 
waters became wormwood; but here there is a complete 
turning of the rivers and fountains, not into worm- 
wood, but into blood. Now, the agencies of material 
prosperity are the great industrial plants, the various 
means of transportation, and all the contributory 
agencies of manufacture and commerce. If we think 
of all of these as being converted into factories for the 
production of engines of destruction, and instrumentali- 
ties and agencies, including poison gases, for destroying 
life and property (a purpose that in our day is always 
kept in view and carefully provided for in every impor- 
tant industrial plant) and into appliances for trans- 
porting these quickly to points where they can do the 
most deadly work, we will have in mind a condition of 
affairs which not only could be brought quickly into 
existence even as things now are, but which also would 
answer perfectly to the symbols used in the passage be- 
fore us. 

We may clearly see a progression of deadliness and 
destructiveness in this group of three vials. First 
there is an eruption of moral or political disorders, 
causing distresses and painful conditions of various 
kinds. ‘This affliction visits the more civilized parts 





468 The Patmos Visions 


of the world. Next comes a state of revolution, civil 
wars, and uprisings, prevailing throughout the heathen 
world, and converting it into a sea of blood. And 
finally we have a further development among the pro- 
gressive nations, such that all the sources and agencies 
of their material wealth and prosperity are trans- 
formed into instrumentalities of death and destruction. 
Here is a word-picture painted nearly two thousand 
years ago. In it, all that I have suggested above is 
vividly set forth, and in the fewest possible words— 
(but seventy-seven words in all, in the original). And 
now, after all these centuries of time, a state of things 
political and industrial has at last developed through- 
out the entire world, such that-men who never read 
the Bible and are as ignorant of the visions of the 
Apocalypse as they are of the statutes of Omri, but 
who keep a sharp eye on current events, are solemnly 
and almost daily assuring their fellow mortals that 
the precise things here foretold are close at hand, and 
will inevitably come upon them, unless averted by 
the League of Nations, or by a World Court, or by a 
Disarmament Treaty, or some other miracle-working 
agency of man’s creation (see the last chapter of this 
volume). ‘The storm whereof these political weather- 
prophets warn us is surely coming, and it is even now 
at the doors. On the other hand, the things in which 
they are trusting to avert it are as little likely to 
happen as that all the wild beasts of the jungle will 
assemble themselves together for the purpose of 
mutually extracting one another’s teeth and claws. 





The Seven Vials 469 


The words of the angel of the waters challenge our 
attention. In the first place it is a noteworthy fact that 
the angels are employed about such matters as the flow 
of rivers and streams. ‘This is one of the examples of 
what has been often noted in these pages, namely that 
we are taken again and again behind the scenes, and are 
shown the agencies that God uses in carrying on the 
operations of His physical creation. Hengstenberg’s 
comment is instructive: 


“The angel of the waters here represents the whole host of 
angels whom God employs in this service. He stands in a near 
relation to the angel who moves the water in John 5:4. We 
have here a delicate and intimate bond, uniting the Apocalypse 
with the Gospel”. 


This angel proclaims what had been previously de- 
clared in the song of the conquerors of the beast (vv. 
1-4), namely, the righteousness and truth of God’s 
ways in the execution of His judgments. Because they 
have shed the innocent blood of saints and prophets, 
God has given them blood to drink. This is strictly 
in accord with that foundation-principle of divine jus- 
tice which was laid down at the beginning of the de- 
velopment of human society after the flood, ‘‘whoso 
sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed’’ 
(Gen. 9:6). Also we have here a fulfilment of Isaiah 
49:26, “I will feed them that oppress thee with their 
own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own 
blood, as with sweet wine’. 

Verse 7 gives a response to the words of the angel, 
which response comes from the altar, ‘“Even so, Lord 








470 The Patmos Visions 


—_—————. 





God Almighty, true and righteous are Thy judg- 
ments”. This points back to the cry of the souls from 
under the altar, ‘‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, 
dost Thou not avenge our blood on them that dwell 
on the earth?” (6:10). The hour of vengeance long 
waited for, is come at last. 


FourTH VIAL 

“And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and 
power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men 
were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of 
God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented 
not, to give Him glory”. 

The first group of three vials kept to the level of the 
earth. They affected the earth, the sea, and the 
streams of water. The last group begins with the sun 
and ends with the air. The fifth touches the throne 
of the beast, which is the loftiest place in the political 
realm. 

The sun is now turned from a source of supreme 
blessing to mankind into an agency of fearful torment. 
This is, of course, symbolical, and is to be taken as 
signifying that the supreme governmental authority of 
those days, instead of being a source of good, a pre- 
server of life, a benefaction to the people, will be an 
instrument of the most cruel oppression. The words 
“and it was given to him (or to it) to scorch men with 
fire’, make it plain that the governmental powers of 
those days are to become instruments for the execution 
of the wrath of God, of which fire is the usual symbol. 
The effect on the men upon whom this judgment falls 








The Seven Vials 471 


shows their hopelessly hardened condition. Instead of 
humbling themselves under the mighty hand of Him 
who has power over these plagues, they blaspheme His 
Name; and they repent not to give Him glory. This 
brings forcibly to mind the statement of Scripture, that 
God gives repentance (Acts 5:31; 11:18); and it 
shows that in those awful days the time for repentance 
will have gone forever. Bengel’s comment is appro- 
priate: 


“In repentance the most essential thing is to give glory to 
God. Man must at once shut his mouth, and even lay his hand 
upon it; but God receives the glory. Where, however, man 
does not yield, but stands out in a spirit of proud and hardened 
defiance, there also God does not yield; and in such a conflict 
man must come far short; he must even be consumed”. 


FirtH VIAL 


“‘And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the 
beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed 
their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven be- 
cause of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their 


deeds” (vv. 10, 11). 


The last preceding plague came through the supreme 
governmental authority of the world; but retribution 
follows swiftly; for this plague falls upon the throne of 
the beast. ‘This has now become, in the fullest sense, 
‘the throne of iniquity’, concerning which the Psalmist 
asks: ‘‘Shall the throne of iniquity have the fellowship 
with Thee, which frameth mischief by a law?” (Psa. 
94:20). That Psalm begins with an invocation to the 
God to whom vengeance belongeth to show Himself, 


ym WER EAS SEF EERE ERE STRUT EOE ETCETERA ERA EE ERIS SET: 
472 The Patmos Visions 

and to render a reward to the proud. And the ques- 
tion is asked, ‘‘Lord, how long shall the wicked, how 
long shall the wicked flourish?” (vv. 1-3). The last 
verse carries us to the conclusion, ‘“‘And He shall bring 
upon them their own iniquity; and He will cut them off 
in their own evil; the Lord our God will cut them off’’. 

The judgment of the fifth vial has this in common 
with that of the fifth trumpet, namely, that the chief 
feature of the plague is darkness. Under the fifth 
trumpet the darkness was caused by a dense smoke aris- 
ing from the bottomless pit, whereby the sun and the 
air were darkened (9:2). Here the agency whereby 
the darkness is produced is not specified. It is stated 
merely that the kingdom of the beast was ‘“‘full of 
darkness’’. In fact there is a notable absence of details 
in the description of these vial judgments. The writer 
hurries from one to the next as if in great haste to 
reach the end of the series. 

Under the fourth plague the sun became intensely 
hot, insomuch that men were scorched with fire. Now 
it is the other extreme. In the former case we are to 
understand a time of fierce persecutions and oppres- 
sions proceeding from the government itself; and in 
the latter, a time of weakness and failure of the power 
of the government. Whatever the details may be, they 
are such as to produce acute distress; for men gnawed 
their tongues with pain; but again there is no turning 
to God, but “‘they blasphemed the God of heaven be- 
cause of their pains and their sores, and repented not 
of their deeds”. ‘These words describe a state of ex- 





The Seven Vials 473 


treme hardness and rebellion. For they show that they 
upon whom this plague falls have some knowledge of 
God, sufficient at least to realize that He is the Author 
of these judgments; yet the hardness of their hearts 
is such that they withstand Him and speak blasphemies 
against His Name. This plague is like the ninth of the 
plagues of Egypt, which consisted in ‘‘a darkness over 
all the land, even a darkness which might be felt’’ 
CEx. 10:21) 2 


SIXTH VIAL 


“And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river 
Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way 
of the kings of the east might be prepared. And I saw three 
unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, 
and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the 
false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working 
miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the 
whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of 
God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that 
watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and 
they see his shame. And he gathered them together into a place 
called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon” (vv. 12-16). 


The description of the last two of the vial judgments 
is more in detail than that of the others. We are 
now reaching the end. Forces are released which oper- 
ate to the gathering together of all the remaining ele- 
ments of human society. The region East of the 
Euphrates is that from which conquering hordes were 
wont to come, the latest in history being that of the 
Turks. It is therefore most approriate that the Eu- 
phrates should be used to represent a dividing line be- 


474 The Patmos Visions 


tween the civilized and the uncivilized peoples. ‘The 
agencies that effect this tremendous gathering are 
represented as three unclean spirits likened to slimy 
frogs in their loathsomeness and repulsiveness. In 
these frogs there is a reminder of the second of the 
plagues of Egypt. The three evil spirits proceed, one 
out of the mouth of the dragon, one out of the mouth 
of the beast, and one out of the mouth of the false 
prophet. Since breath (or spirit) and speech issue 
forth from the mouth, we may understand from this 
that the spirits and evil influences of these three great 
enemies of God are now unitedly put forth to their 
uttermost, in a last prodigious effort of resistance to 
His purpose. The result is a great concentration of the 
hosts of wickedness at a place which is figuratively 
called Armageddon. For not only ‘‘the kings of the 
East’’, mentioned in verse 12, are there, but “‘the kings 
of the earth, and of the whole world” are also present. 
The meaning of the complete name Armageddon, ac- 
cording to Jackson (Dict. of Scripture Names) is ‘“The 
Hill of Slaughter”. The root meaning of the Hebrew 
original is given as a place of rendezvous or gathering. 
Clearly therefore the word has a figurative, not a 
geographical meaning., ‘The purpose for which the 
hosts are gathered is stated. They are come together 
‘to the battle of that great day of God Almighty”’. 
The description given here carries us no further. We 
see only the concentration of all the powers and hosts 
of evil. We see no opposing forces, and nothing is said 
of the battle itself, or of its outcome. But what is 


The Seven Vials | 475 


lacking here to make a complete description, is given 
in Chapter 19:11-21; and in this we see again another 
example of what is common throughout the Book, 
that is, a turning back to take up a line of events that 
had been dropped, or to give particulars concerning a 
matter that had theretofore received only a general 
mention. 

Verse 15 is very striking. The speaker is not named 
or referred to in any way. But the words are unmis- 
takably those of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the mes- 
sage to Sardis He had said “If therefore thou shalt not 
watch, I will come on thee as a thief’; and He also 
speaks there of a few “even in Sardis, which have not 
defiled their garments” (3:3,4). His coming ‘‘as a 
thief’, means at a wholly unexpected moment. The 
foundation passage is Matthew 24:43, ‘“‘But know this, 
that if the good man of the house had known in what 
watch the thief would come, he would have watched”’. 
This is a lesson for all the people of God at all times. 
It is much too broad to be limited to the second advent 
of Christ. Nevertheless, to that event it points par- 
ticularly; for then the unexpectedness of His coming 
will be specially exemplified. ‘his appears from the 
words of Peter, who, in warning those that scoff at the 
promise of His coming, says, “But the day of the Lord 
will come as a thief in the night’ (2 Pet. 3:10), that is 
to say, as an overwhelming surprise. The day of the 
Lord, whereof Peter speaks, is manifestly “that great 
day of God Almighty’, of Revelation 16:14. The 


apostle Paul likewise reminds the Thessalonian saints 





476 The Patmos Visions 


of what they already knew “perfectly”, namely, ‘‘that 
the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night’ 
(1 Th. 5:2). He adds however, this comforting 
assurance, ‘‘But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that 
that day should overtake you as a thief” (v. 4). So, 
when the day actually arrives, there are none of “the 
children of light’’ on the earth; for in all the descrip- 
tion of the vial period, which is coincident with the 
seventh trumpet period, there is no indication of the 
presence on earth of any of the people of God. The 
whole earth is, during that entire period, the theater 
of the outpouring of the fullness of God’s wrath and 
fiery indignation, from which His faithful promise 
guarantees them a perfect deliverance. ‘For the Scrip- 
ture last quoted goes on to say, ‘“‘For God hath not ap- 
pointed us to wrath” (1 Th. 5:9). They who are 
truly Christ’s give proof thereof by watching and 
keeping their garments. Hence they are among the 
“blessed ones” who are ‘delivered from the wrath to 
come’ (1 Th. 1:10); not because of their watchful- 
ness, however, but because they are His. Therefore 
this word of Christ’s is put in at this point, I take it, 
for the benefit of those whom He will “bring with 
Him” (1 Th. 4:14); as well as to stimulate and en-. 
courage all His people at all times to watch and to keep 
their garments (their outward behaviour) from the de- 
filements of the world. Bengel aptly says: 


“W atch—garments: two parts of an admonition that belong 
together and go together. For when about to go to sleep one 
lays aside his garments; but when awake he keeps them. Now, 


aR a NST VN A TTP PIE RLRIEITISET, 


The Seven Vials 477 


if something suddenly happens, such as the arrival of the Lord, 
one who is asleep does not readily get himself clothed; but he 
who is in a wakeful attitude is safe also in respect to his cloth- 


¥ ”) 


ing’. 


SEVENTH VIAL 


“‘And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and 
there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the 
throne, saying, It is done. And there were voices, and thunders, 
and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was 
not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, 
and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, 
and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in re- 
membrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of 
the fierceness of His wrath. And every island fled away, and 
the mountains were not found. And there fell upon men a 
great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a 
talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of 
the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great’ (vv. 17- 
PAYS 

This last vial is poured out into the air. As the air 
entirely envelops the earth, the suggestion is that of 
an all-embracing judgment. But more than that, the 
air is the abode of hosts of evil powers and spirits 
(Eph. 2:2; 6:12). Hence this vial seems to have 
those evil spirits for its principal object. The pre- 
ceding vial was a comprehensive judgment upon all the 
enemies of God upon the earth. Now the air is visited. 

In discussing verse one I commented upon the great 
voice out of the temple, showing that it was the voice 
of God. His words, “It is done”, expressly declare the 
comprehensiveness and finality of the judgment. There 
are the usual symbolical manifestations of judgments 





478 The Patmos Visions 


in the voices, thunderings, lightnings, and the earth- 
quake. The latter, however, is declared to be such as 
was not since men were upon earth. ‘his reminds us 
of the final shaking of all things, foretold in Hebrews 
12:26, 27, quoted from Haggai 2:6, which signifies 
“the removing of those things that are shaken”. So 
the impression is given that ‘‘all the powers that had 
withstood God’s purpose concerning His kingdom, are 
now laid in ruins’’. 

One part of the world-system that is singled out 
here for special mention, as having been struck under 
this judgment, is “‘the great city’; and after the brief 
but sufficient statement, ‘and the cities of the nations 
fell’’ (which means, of course, fell to rise no more), it 
is said that great Babylon came into remembrance be- 
fore God, to give unto her the cup of the fierceness of 
His wrath. This great subject, like that of the battle 
of Armageddon, is left unfinished, to be taken up in a 
subsequent vision (Chapter XVIII). Hengstenberg 
points out that the words “Babylon the great’’ corres-’ 
pond to “the great city” in the preceding part of the 
verse; and that the islands and mountains correspond 
with ‘the cites of the nations’. In any view of the 
passage, it conveys the idea of the utter prostration of 
all the strongholds of the enemy, and the destruction of 
all his possessions. 

Finally, special mention is made of the great hail 
that fell out of heaven, the hailstones being of pro- 
digious size. That this incident is mentioned last is no 
proof that it was the last to occur; though hail is so 








The Seven Vials 479 


uniformly spread out that it is certain when it falls to 
strike down everything that might survive the other 
agents of destruction. Seemingly the point which this 
concluding verse of the passage is intended to empha- 
size is the continuance to the very end of the blasphemy 
of these enemies of God. It is as if they blasphemed 
Him with their last breath. Is not this repeated refer- 
ence to the hardness of the hearts of these, the last of 
the civilized and progressive, the cultured and educated 
nations and races of men, intended as a most solemn 
and impressive warning to those who refuse the call to 
repentance in the day when forgiveness is freely 
offered? Bengel’s comment is most appropriate: 


“The blaspheming of God had twice already been mentioned 
under three plagues, and along with that it was said that they 
did not repent. But here, when the blaspheming of God is 
recorded the third time, no notice is taken of the other point, 
whether they repented or not; from which we may infer that 
the men were killed by this hail, as the Amorites in Joshua 
X. 11. Men could not receive in this case the punishment due 
to their blasphemy in time. Hence we must the more on that 
account suppose a respect had to the judgment of God in 
eternity. We have here the end of God’s judgment on the 
earth, though still not the end of all things’. 


THE VISION OF MysTERY BABYLON 


Glancing ahead at what yet remains before us, we 
find a series of detached visions, each complete in it- 
self, but all belonging to the period covered by the 
series of the seven vials. That is to say, they are 
visions each of a particular judgment belonging to the 


a aS 


480 The Patmos Visions 








events of the general series of vial judgments, ‘‘the 
last plagues”. 

These are: I. The vision of the judgment of the 
scarlet-clad woman, Mystery Babylon (Chapter 17: 
1-18). 

II. The vision of the overthrow of'the great city 
Babylon (Chapter 18). 

III. The vision of the battle of the great day of 
God Almighty (Chapter 19:11-21). 

IV. The vision of the chaining of Satan for a 
thousand years in the bottomless pit (Chapter 20:1-3). 


““And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven 
vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither: I will 
show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth 
upon many waters: with whom the kings of the earth have 
committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have 
been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he 
carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a 
woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of 
blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman 
was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold 
and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand 
full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: and upon 
her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON 
THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND 
ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH” (17:1-5). 


There is a link between this vision and the series of 
vial judgments in the circumstance that the angel by 
whom John was taken to the place where he was to 
see it, was one of the seven angels that had the seven 
golden vials. It is connected specially with the third 
vial by the words which describe the woman as 





The Seven Vials 481 


“drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the 
blood of the martyrs of Jesus” (v.6). These visions 
of judgments subsequent to the pouring out of the vials, 
afford clear and certain proof that the Book is divided 
into groups, and that there is a constant returning in 
later visions to ground that has been already traversed, 
either for a fresh start, or else to show in detail some- 
thing of which only a summary had been previously 
given. For here are several scenes of specific judg- 
ments coming into view after “the Jast plagues’, those 
in which were ‘filled up the wrath of God”’; after the 
voice from the throne had said ‘‘It is done’’, which say- 
ing showed that the end of the judgments had abso- 
lutely been reached. Yet the vision of Chapter XVII 
is expressely called “the judgment of the great whore’”’; 
and in Chapters XVIII, XIX, and XX, are other judg- 
ments involving the great city, the beasts and kings of 
the earth, and finally Satan himself. The only possible 
explanation of these facts is that at Chapter XVII we 
have a new beginning, a going back to certain of the 
judgments of the vial series. 

The woman of this vision is “Mystery Babylon the 
great”. ‘he vision of the next chapter shows the fall 
of the city ‘Babylon the great” (18:2) ; but that is not 
termed a mystery. There is evidently an internal con- 
nection between the woman and the city, in that the 
same name, ‘Babylon the great’’, is given to each. (See 
also the explicit statement of 17:18). But there is a 
difference, in that the woman is a ‘mystery’; that is to 
say there is that about her which could not be known 


eer aeetaerae pesecerecno eee cometenesaet-deaconrees apssysorieet-t=einetas opti sactoeees meine asacooce nari canna efecto te cae net eee nee eee 


482 The Patmos Visions 


without further revelation from God. The mystery 
lay in the real character of her relations with the kings 
and inhabitants of the earth, and in the miserable doom 
that awaited her at the hands of those she had duped. 
On the other hand, the character and doom of the spir- 
itual city Babylon were foretold in the type of the lit- 
eral Babylon (Jer. 51:7, 8, 48, 61-64). 

There are several things to guide us to the meaning 
of the symbol of the gorgeously-attired woman. The 
statement that she was seen in the wilderness puts 
before us a contrast with that other woman in the 
wilderness (Chapter XII). And since the latter repre- 
sented the company of God’s true people in the world, 
the Israel of God, this other woman must represent 
that which claims to be the company of God’s elect, but 
in reality is in league with the powers of earth. This 
is confirmed by another comparison and contrast. For 
the woman of Chapter XII is identified with the bride 
of the Lamb, and with the heavenly city, the New 
Jerusalem (21:9-11). Moreover, as here, it is one of 
the seven angels who had the seven vials, that shows 
John that vision. The woman of Chapter XVII, on 
the other hand, is identified with the earthly city, 
Babylon (vv. 5, 18), and instead of being the immacu- 
late bride of the Lamb, is one with whom the kings of 
the earth have committed fornication (vy. 2). This 
then is the false “Church”, which has had a recog- 
nizable existence in the world since the fourth century, 
and which had had its most conspicuous exemplification 
in Catholicism. All the symbols and descriptive items 


The Seven Vials 483 


confirm this view, some of them in a very striking way, 
as will be pointed out shortly. It is needful, however, 
to bear in mind that the vision shows us the very last 
development of that system of falsehood, cruelty, and 
spiritual harlotry, which this woman represents; and 
further that the full development is yet to come. For 
here we see the very last stage of beast government, 
that of the last of the seven heads, that of the ten 
kingdoms which will make war with the Lamb, but 
whom the Lamb shall overcome (v. 14, with 19:19); 
and here we see the end of this ‘‘mother of harlots’’, 
for the ten kingdoms whereof she had been for a time 
the mistress, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh, 
and burn her with fire (v. 16). 

The reader should recall at this point what was said 
on Chapter 13:18, as to the ultimate development of 
the religion of man (Humanism ), by the amalgamation 
of the various religious factions, which howevermuch 
they may differ among themselves, agree in this, that 
they exalt man, and deny the faith of Jesus Christ. For 
this woman is not only herself a harlot, but is ex- 
pressly “the mother of harlots and abominations of the 
earth’’, an abomination being an idol, or anything that 
-is worshipped and trusted. This “mother church” will 
no doubt gather her daughters to her ample bosom ere 
the end comes. For, as everything that is of God will 
be consolidated into one temple (11:1), so everything 
not of God will be consolidated into one opposing 
system. 


————— ee 


484. The Patmos Vistons 


aL SONI nnn nnn nen 


We have seen that the papacy as a political system 
is represented by the second beast; for as a govern- 
ment it has all the distinguishing characteristics of 
other world governments. Therefore another symbol 
was required to set it forth as a religious system, par- 
ticularly since the elements that make up the one are 
not wholly the same as those that compose the other. 
What is emphasized particularly in this vision is the 
relations of this dissolute woman with “the kings of 
the earth’’, and the influence exerted by her over ‘‘the 
inhabitants of the earth’. ‘Those relations and that 
influence are described figuratively by the expressive 
word “fornication”. The love of a harlot is a feigned 
love; and its hatefulness consists largely in the fact 
that it is put in the place of the true love of a wife. 
The harlot’s aim is to secure favors for herself. To 
that end she not only prostitutes whatever she may 
have of womanly charm, but she brings into play all 
manner of seductive arts, and adorns her person with 
whatever may increase her attractions in the eyes of 
men. But specially reprehensible is her pretended 
affection for those she seeks to ensnare in the web of 
her fascinations and enchantments. Such is the false 
religion that feigns a deep solicitude for the spiritual 
good of the great ones of the earth, and exerts a mys- 
terious and intoxicating influence over the inhabitants 
of the earth, making them, as it were “drunk with the 
wine of her fornication’”’, the religion that conceals the 
basest of motives behind the mask of pretended affec- 
tion and fondness. ‘This is the chief feature, accord- 





The Seven Vials 485 


ing to the figures here used, of the guilt for which this 
woman is about to be judged. 

She is identified as “the great whore that sitteth 
upon many waters’’; and this may be taken to mean 
greatness in earthly power and glory, as well as great- 
ness in wickedness. The statement concerning the 
many waters is purely incidental, thrown in apparently 
as an aid to the identification of the woman. Clearly, 
from what is said in verse 15, the ‘‘many waters”’ are 
a symbol for the “‘peoples and multitudes”. The ref- 
erence here is to Jeremiah 51:13, where the prophet, 
addressing the literal Babylon, says: ‘‘O thou that 
dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, 
thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetous- 
ness”. ‘These words fit very exactly the case of ‘“‘Mys- 
tery Babylon the Great”. The phrase ‘‘abundant in 
treasures’’, indicates that the ‘‘waters”’ are in this place 
used, as in many passages, as a symbol of that which 
causes fruitfulness and prosperity. For Babylon was 
not situated on the seas, but was an inland city. The ap- 
plication is plain. Papal Rome has enormously enriched 
herself at the expense of the peoples, multitudes and 
nations (the ‘‘many waters”) upon which she has prac- 
ticed her seductive arts and enchantments. Her “‘treas- 
ures” are fabulous, her revenues enormous, and the ag- 
gregate value of her holdings of lands and buildings 
runs into astronomical figures. There is not to be 
found in all the world a more flagrant example of dis- 
regard of Christ’s command, ‘“‘Lay not up for your- 
selves treasures on earth’. But now is come ‘‘the end” 





486 The Patmos Visions 


of this prodigy of wickedness, so ‘‘abundant in treas- 
ures’, and now is come “‘the measure of her covetous- 
ness’’. 

Another identifying mark is given in the description 
of the woman’s attire, which is of purple and scarlet 
color, with adornments of gold and precious stones. 
The colors, purple and scarlet, are conspicuous in the 
vestments of the Roman hierarchy, scarlet being spe- 
cially identified with the cardinals, the ‘‘princes of the 
church’’; while the gold and precious stones and pearls 
figure aptly the earthly gorgeousness and magnificence 
of the trappings with which this system adorns all its 
temples, altars, rites and ceremonies. Nothing could 
be farther than this ornate display from God’s mind 
for His people, as expressed by the apostle Peter, 
to whom the false ‘church’ accords special ven- 
eration: ‘‘Whose adorning, let it not be that outward 
adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, 
or of putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden 
man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even 
the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in 
the sight of God of great price” (1 Pet. 3:3,4). The 
true Israel of God, the woman of Chapter XII, during 
her sojourn in the wilderness of this world, seeks not 
to please the carnal eye by arts and ornaments which 
enhance personal attractiveness. Like her Lord she 
has in the eyes of men “‘no form nor comeliness”, and 
they see in her no beauty that they should desire her. 

A further mark of identification is given in the state- 
ment that the woman was seated upon a scarlet-colored 


SENSE ESE A SES SM AS ARE AI REN ER | 
The Seven Vials 487 


beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads 
and ten horns (v. 3). This symbolizes very aptly the 
dominance of the religious system which the woman 
represents over the governing power of the earth. 
The scarlet color of the beast is a link with the scarlet 
attire of the woman herself. ‘They are of the same 
complexion. It is also a link with the great red dragon 
of Chapter 12:3. 


“And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, 
and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw 
her, I wondered with great admiration. And the angel said 
unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the 
mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which 
hath the seven heads and ten horns. ‘The beast that thou sawest 
was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and 
go into perdition; and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, 
whose names were not written in the book of life from the 
foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, 
and is not, and yet is. And here is the mind which hath wisdom. 
The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman 
sitteth. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, 
and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must 
continue a short space. And the beast that was, and is not, 
even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdi- 
tion. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which 
have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one 
hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their 
power and strength unto the beast. “These shall make war with 
the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for He is Lord 
of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with Him are 
called, and chosen, and faithful. And he saith unto me, The 
waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, 
and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. And the ten horns 
which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, 
and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, 


ee aeRO PESTER AN TER ASE A ETRE ETRE TOA RETR RIE ATA TT AEROS: TC RENEE NS ST TS OTE EEE on 


488 The Patmos Visions 


and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to 
fulfil His will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the 
beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. And the 
woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth 
over the kings of the earth” (17:6-18). 


A further and final mark of identification is found in 
verse 6, which points definitely to Rome’s bloody rec- 
ord of persecution and slaughter of the saints of God 
and of the martyrs of Jesus. The word “drunken” 
expresses forcibly the state of being glutted or sur- 
feited with blood; though in truth it has seemed as if 
her thirst for the blood of God’s saints were insatiable. 
A distinction is made in this book between God’s peo- 
ple in general, His ‘“‘saints’’, and the special class of 
martyrs. The appropriate inference is that, as the 
day of rewards is in view, God would specially encour- 
age those who have to face death for Jesus Christ’s 
sake, by bringing to mind the great and glorious re- 
wards that await them. 

Then follows the angel’s explanation to John of 
the mystery of the woman and of the beast that car- 
ried her, a mystery so extraordinary that it had caused 
John to wonder with a great wonder (v. 6). Sufficient 
comment has already been made on the explanation 
concerning the beast (see remarks on 13:1-3). It is 
well, however, to recall particularly that in John’s day 
the ungodly world-power was in its sixth stage, that of 
the Roman Empire, corresponding to the sixth head 
of the beast, and that there was to be yet another 
stage, as declared by the words: ‘The other is not 


RS SS A ST 7 RS SY 7 SER SSS 
The Seven Vials 489 


yet come; and when he cometh he must continue a short 
space’ (v. 10). On this verse Hengstenberg says :-— 


“Of the seven kings mentioned, five belonged to the period 
already past; and of the two others, ome was on the stage of 
history at the time then present, and the other had not yet 
appeared upon it’. 


It was in the sixth head that the beast had received 
the deadly wound, from which he had seemingly re- 
vived as by a miracle; though in that head the power 
of the beast, which he had received from the dragon 
(13:2), was permanently broken (Heb. 2:14). On. 
this Bengel remarks: 


“This one king (the sixth) however impotent he may be, is 
yet not off the stage. Were it otherwise, then the continued 
existence of the beast, from his ascending out of the sea to his 
precipitation into the lake of fire, would be thereby interrupted. 
But the Lord had said, ‘I have overcome the world’; and in that 
mighty fact lies the foundation of the difference between the 
‘one’ (the sixth king) and the ‘five’. When the other (the 
seventh) comes, then the sixth falls. That is now; it is the 
Roman Empire. But from the statement made respecting the 
seventh, that he should abide but a short time, we infer that 
the one then in being was likely to continue yet a pretty long 
time”. 

As to the one that was (and is) yet to come, there 
are various and cogent reasons for believing, though 
we may not afhrm it with certainty, that it is even now 
in process of formation, and at a rapid rate, in the 
political doings, compacts, discussions and alliances be- 
tween the principal states of Europe (see last chapter 
of this volume). What is apparently close at hand is 


490 The Patmos Visions 


a superstate (the League of Nations) which will be the 
seventh and last stage of beast government, and ten 
associated kingdoms which will “receive power as 
kings one hour with the beast’. Such a system is in 
such plain sight that the natural eye can see it; and 
furthermore, the fear of the ruin, which would cer- 
tainly be the result of another war, is so great, that 
the statesmen of Europe are sparing no effort to bring 
it into effective existence. For they see no other way 
of escape from complete annihilation. It requires how- 
ever a revelation from God to tell us that the seventh 
head will have but a brief existence, ‘‘one hour’’ (v. 
12), that all the associated powers of earth will make 
war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome 
them (v. 14). That event is the subject of a later 
vision (Chap. 19:11-21). But before that final over- 
throw of world-power in the hands of men, the ten 
kings will completely change their attitude towards the 
great harlot; their fondness will be turned to extremest 
enmity; for they will “hate her, and make her desolate 
and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with 
fire’ (v.16). Her end will be like that of Jezebel, who 
typifies her both in life, and in death (2 K. 9 :30-37). 
As to the similarities between the licentious queen 
Jezebel and the woman of this chapter, see comments 
above on 2:20, 21. 

The terrible end of this enchantress will appear to 
proceed from natural causes. It will seem as if the 
ten kings were simply accomplishing their own mind, 
and were turned against this monstrous system of 


OR ESS PES SSS ST SRS SSS EE ESI READERS SEY SPE METERS I 
The Seven Vials 491 


duplicity and covetousness by some more than usually 
arrogant assumption of authority, or usurpation of 
power. But it is given us to know that God’s hand 
will be the active agent in it; that He will “put in their 
hearts to fulfil His will, and to agree, and give their 
kingdom unto the beast (the League of Nations, or 
something similar) until the words of God shall be ful- 
filled” (v. 17). 


BABYLON FALLEN 


“And after these things I saw another angel come down from 
heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with 
his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, 
Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habita- 
tion of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of 
every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of 
the wine of the wrath for her fornication, and the kings of the 
earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants 
of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her 
delicacies” (18:1-3). 


The culmination of man’s activities along religious 
lines is pictured in the woman, Mystery Babylon, of | 
Chapter XVII. The culmination of his activities 
along the parallel line of “business” is seen in the 
city, Babylon the Great, of the vision now before us. 
There yet remains the culmination of human activities 
along a third parallel line, that of politics, which comes 
into view in the vision of Chapter 19:11-21. 

The importance of the subject of this vision is testi- 
fied by the manner of its introduction. The angel hav- 
ing great power, by whose glory the earth is illumi- 





4.92 The Patmos Visions 


nated, can be none other than Christ. The words ‘‘He 
cried mightily with a strong voice’, further indicate 
the Lord Himself. They recall the statement of Chap- 
ter 10:3, “‘And He cried with a loud voice, as when a 
lion roareth”’. He repeats the proclamation of the 
angel of Chapter 14:8, ‘Babylon is fallen is fallen’. 
The vision apparently comes under the seventh vial, 
for there it is recorded that “‘the great city was divided 
into three parts’, that being the effect of the mighty 
earthquake, such as had never been since men were 
upon the earth; and there it is also recorded that 
“great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to 
give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His 
wrath” (16:18, 19). The earthquake is not men- 
tioned in Chapter 18 as the agent of the destruction 
of Babylon; but it is said, ‘“‘And she shall be utterly 
burned with fire’ (v. 8). Fires always break out in 
a city that has been visited with a severe earthquake. 

That which great Babylon typifies is a thing that is 
monstrously evil in the sight of God. It represents 
the world, of course; but particularly the world in the 
aspect of a gigantic system for the pursuit of wealth 
and pleasure. There is no one word that fully ex- 
presses what is here symbolized. I have said it rep- 
resents Commercialism, or Industrialism; but neither 
of those words adequately defines the symbol, though 
they help to convey the idea embodied init. The great 
world of ‘‘Business” has been growing bigger and 
bigger; it has been exerting more and more fascina- 
tions upon the hearts and imaginations of men; it has 





The Seven Vials | 493 


been increasing marvellously in the complexity of its 
machinery and the magnitude of its operations; it has 
become virtually a religion to countless millions of peo- 
ple; and its leaders, the captains of industry, are prac- 
tically the rulers of the world. The framework or 
body of Industrialism is tangible and visible. It is 
seen in the factories, warehouses, power houses, mer- 
cantile and business houses, railroads, steamships, mo- 
tor trucks etc., etc. But the animating spirit of it all 
is that mysterious thing called ‘“‘Finance’”’. ‘This is the 
only god that the many know and worship in our day; 
for a man’s god is that to which he consecrates his life, 
and to which he looks for meeting his needs, satisfying 
his desires, and overcoming his difficulties. Money, 
then, is the greatest of all the idols of the present day. 
It numbers its devotees by the hundreds of millions, 
and they include the most intelligent and cultivated 
members of society. It is not an exaggeration to say 
that Money, of which the financiers are the priests, 
and ‘Business’ the handmaid, is the greatest rival of 
God for the affections and devotions of men. This is 
implied in the teaching of Christ, ‘Ye cannot serve 
God and Mammon” (Mat. 6:24). In those words 
He declares the rivalry of God and Mammon for the 
service (which as the context shows, involves the love) 
of men. Babylon the great is the Biblical type and 
symbol of all this; which fully explains the intensity of 
God’s hatred of it, and the great rejoicings of heaven 
at its overthrow. 





AQ4. The Patmos Visions 


The name Babel comes into prominence in the Bible 
soon after the flood. It was given to the city which 
men attempted to build as a place of safety for them- 
selves, and as a central attraction to unify and hold 
the race of human beings together (Gen. 11:1-9). It 
is easy therefore, to glean from that passage the main 
ideas associated with Babel, or Babylon; namely, the 
consolidation of humanity, and salvation for man 
through his own works, that is to say, Humanism. It 
is utterly opposed to God and to His purposes for man. 
Therefore, it is no place for the people of God; and 
when He sent Israel there it was as a punishment. 
This explains God’s urgency to call His people out of 
Babylon, and His oft-declared purpose utterly to de- 
stroy her. 

The call to depart from Babylon is first heard in the 
prophecy of Isaiah, and is heard seven times in all, the 
last being in Revelation 18:4. It is a significant fact 
also that, in each of these seven instances, the city of 
God, Jerusalem (or Zion) is in the context. Thus the 
Scriptures remind us repeatedly of the rivalry between 
the city of man and the city of God. The passages are 
these :— 


1. Isaiah 48:20, “Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the 
Chaldeans, with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it 
even to the end of the earth; say ye, the Lord hath redeemed 
His servant Jacob”. 


Even in this first passage the note of exultation is 
heard, as God contemplates the redemption of His 
people, and their deliverance from Babylon. In the 


The Seven Vials 495 


context we read that ‘He will do His pleasure on 
Babylon, and His arm shall be on the Chaldeans”’ 
(v. 14). Also we find in verse 2 a reference to “the 
holy city’. 

2. Isaiah 52:11, “Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from 


thence; touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; 
be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord”. 


Babylon is not mentioned here by name; but she is 
the subject of the passage. For in verse 4 God speaks 
of the sojourn of His people aforetime in Egypt, and 
of the subsequent oppression by the Assyrian; and then 
He asks, “‘Now therefore, what have I here, that My 
people is taken away for nought?” ‘This refers to the 
coming captivity in Babylon, which is the general sub- 
ject of this part of the prophecy. Zion is named in 
verse 8, and Jerusalem in verse 9. 

3. Jeremiah 50:8, 9, “Remove out of the midst of Babylon, 
and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the 
he goats before the flocks. For lo, I will raise, and cause to 
come up against Babylon, an assembly of great nations from the 


north country; and they shall set themselves in array against 
her; from thence she shall be taken”. 


In verse 3 it is said concerning the people of God, 
“They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces 
thitherward”. The punishment of Babylon is fore- 
told‘in’ verses('13, 15) 18):23, :ete! 


4. Jeremiah 51:6, 8, “Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and 
deliver every man his soul; be not cut off in her iniquity: for 
this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance; He will render unto 
her a recompense. Babylon is suddenly fallen, and destroyed’. 





496 The Patmos Visions 


The call here is very urgent, and the similarity of 
the language to that of Revelation 18:2-4 will be 
noted. In verse 10 Zion is named. 


5. Zechariah 2:6, 7, “Ho, ho, come forth and flee from the 
land of the north, saith the Lord: for I have spread you abroad 
as the four winds of the heaven, saith the Lord. Deliver thy- 
self, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon’’. 


This is the vision, to which reference has already 
been made, wherein Jerusalem is being measured with 
a view to her being inhabited again (vv. 1-4). 


6. 2 Corinthians 6:17, 18, “Wherefore, come out from 
among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not 
the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father 
unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord - 
Almighty”. | 


Babylon is not named in this passage, but it is im- 
plied in the confusion and mixture of believers and un- 
believers, christianity and paganism, described in verses 
14-16. Moreover, the first part of the passage is a 
direct quotation from Isaiah 52:11, cited above. 
Neither is the holy city of God mentioned by name; 
but that too is implied in the words, “And I will receive 


you, and be a Father unto you”. The family relation 
implies the family home. 


7. Rev. 18:4-8, “And I heard another voice from heaven, 
saying, Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers 
of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins 
have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her 
iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double 
unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she 


hath filled, fill to her double. How much she hath glorified 





The Seven Vials 497 


herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give 
her; for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, 
and shall see no sorrow. “Therefore shall her plagues come in 
one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be 
utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who 
judgeth her”’. 


This sevenfold call of God to His people to come 
out of great Babylon is most impressive. ‘The call to 
come out implies that the way is open for them to de- 
part. And such is the case, for Christ ‘‘gave Himself 
for our sins that He might deliver us out of this pres- 
ent evil world, according to the will of God and our 
Father” (Gal. 1:4). The door of escape has been set 
open by Him who openeth and no man shutteth. But 
it should be remembered that whereas God brought 
His people out of Egypt in a body, with a strong hand 
and an outstretched arm, it was otherwise with respect 
to their deliverance from Babylon; for there He simply 
opened the way, and only those came out who were 
minded so to do. 

The fascinations of the city of Babylon are of the 
same sort as those of the woman, “‘Mystery Babylon’’; 
for it is said by the mighty angel that all the heathen 
have drunk of her wine. This agrees with Jeremiah 
51:7, “the nations have drunken of her wine, there- 
fore the nations are mad’. It is further said that 
“her sins have reached unto heaven’’; and this again 
is in accord with Jeremiah 51:9, “for her judgment 
reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the 
skies”. This indicates the highest degree of sin, and 
sin of the most conspicuous kind. Such was the sin of 





498 The Patmos Visions 


those before the flood who, in the face of God’s 
solemn warnings and the testimony of Noah, “a 
preacher of righteousness” (2 Pet. 2:5), continued in 
their own ways, eating and drinking, marrying and 
giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered 
into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them 
all (Lu. 17:27). Contemptuous disregard and defi- 
ance of the Word of God is the essence of the sin of 
Babylon; and in her case, as portrayed in the scene 
now before us, that sin is carried to its greatest height; 
‘for her sins have reached unto heaven’. And such 
is the spirit of the world in these last days. Men to 
whom the Word of God has come in its fullness, in 
whose ears His warnings concerning the doom of this 
world have been plainly spoken, treat them as old 
wives’ fables, and go on with their great projects, plan- 
ning enterprises on an ever increasing scale of grandeur 
and magnificence, thus by the whole course of their 
daily lives making God a liar. The spirit of Babylon 
is manifested by what “‘she saith in her heart’, namely, 
“I sit a queen”, that is, upon a throne, ‘‘and am no 
widow, and shall see no sorrow’ (18:7) ; though God 
has said directly the contrary. And this is precisely 
the spirit of the leaders of the affairs of the world to- 
day, who are saying in all their actions (which truly 
speak louder than words), ‘Where is the promise of 
His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things 
continue as they were from the beginning of the crea- 
tion” (2 Pet. 3:4). This sin of high-handed presump- 
tion, of contempt and defiance of the Word of God, 


SS a SESE SUT OPPOSITE DE EE PEE PRE SO EST 


The Seven Vials 499 


has surely been carried to the greatest height by the 
men of our day, ‘men of the world, which have their 
portion in this life’ (Ps. 17:14). How great then is 
“the long suffering of our Lord’, who still withholds 
the threatened judgment, for that He is “not willing 
that any should perish, but that all should come to 
repentance is ( 2. bet. -9))% 


“And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornica- 
tion and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament 
for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning. Standing 
afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great 
city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment 
come. And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn 
over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more; the 
merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of 
pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all 
thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner 
vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and 
marble. And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frank- 
incense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, 
and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of 


men” (18:9-13). 


In this lament over the sudden fall and destruction 
of the great city, “the merchants of the earth” are 
joined with “the kings of the earth”. This prophecy 
of the uniting of politics and business is of great signifi- 
cance at the present hour, when the leaders of the busi- 
ness affairs of the world stand on an equal footing with 
the leaders of its political affairs, and when their in- 
terests and concerns are practically identical. It was 
not so a generation or two ago. The kings of the 
earth will bewail and lament for Babylon, because they 





500 The Patmos Visions 


lived luxuriously, or voluptuously, with her; and the 
merchant princes of the earth shall weep and mourn 
over her, because the markets for their wares are gone; 
‘for no man buyeth their merchandise any more’. In 
the list of the “merchandise” wherewith men engaged 
in traffic in the marts of the great city, gold and silver 
and precious stones come first—earthly treasure which 
surely has the first place in the affections of men, and 
which never were so highly prized and so eagerly 
sought as at the present time. ‘Then come things for 
show and personal adornment; and then choice articles 
of rare and precious wood, metal and ivory. Then 
come perfumes and other luxuries, which speak of the 
sensuousness of modern living; and then the more sub- 
stantial commodities, including horses and chariots, 
which brings to mind the extraordinary development in 
our day of conveyances for travel and moving about. 
Most significantly this remarkable list of the wares of 
great Babylon ends with the “‘bodies and souls of men’”’ 
(the word slaves in the text being literally bodies). 
For here is where men and women barter their bodies 
and souls for some trifle, something that at best can 
afford but a momentary satisfaction. Here is where 
the multitude of the Esaus of our day exchange their 
birthright for a mere mess of pottage. How pertinent 
and how impressive in this connection are the words of 
the Lord Jesus Christ, ‘‘For what is a man profited, 
if he shall gain the whole world and 'lose his own soul ? 
For the Son of man shall come in the glory of His 
Father, with His angels, and then He shall reward 








The Seven Vials 501 





every man according to his works” (Mat. 16: 26, 27). 
Those who make the shrewdest bargains in the marts 
of the great city, who get the greatest return in ex- 
change for their souls, must part forever with what 
they received, and be losers for eternity, when Christ 
shall come. But they that lose their lives in this world 
for His sake, waiting for their wealth, honors and 
pleasures until He shall return in power and glory, 
with the angels of His strength, will have enduring 
riches; they will enter upon pleasures for evermore, 
and will receive an inheritance which is incorruptible, 
and undefiled, and that fadeth not away. 


“And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from 
thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed 
from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all. The 
merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall 
stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing; 
and saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine 
linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and 
precious stones and pearls! For in one hour so great riches is 
come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company 
in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, 
and cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, 
What city is like unto this great city! And they cast dust on 
their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, 
that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in 
the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made 


desolate” (18:14-19). 


These verses picture most vividly the remorseful 
sorrows of those whose affections have been set upon 
the great world-system, and whose expectations have 
been all from that quarter. They set forth as only the 


je 3 a ANY 2 PT RET EE SN SEER EOP SE ESE STE EYES SP SESE 
502 The Patmos Visions 


words of the Holy Spirit could portray, the bitterness 
of the disappointment and the anguish of soul of those 
who see the source of all their fond hopes and desires 
extinguished; and who realize that it is a disappoint- 
ment that must be forever. The repeated cry Alas! 
Alas! (or Woe, Woe, for the word is the same as that 
of the angel who cried the three woes in Chapter 8 :13) 
is like that of Esau’s, ‘‘ a great and exceeding bitter 
cry’ (Gen. 27:34); and the casting of dust upon the 
head is the act of one who realizes that he has been 
brought into a condition of extreme humiliation and 
distress. 

The recurrence of the word “woe” (Alas/ verses 16 
and 19) serves as a reminder that all this is in the 
period of the third and last woe (11:14). 


“And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, 
and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that 
great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more 
at all. And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, 
and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no 
craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more 
in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more 
at all in thee; and the light of a candle shall shine no more at 
all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride 
shall be heard no more at all in thee; for thy merchants were 
the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations 
deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of 
saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth (18:21-24). 


The rejoicing of heaven, and of those whose hearts 
and treasures are there, is set in direct contrast with 
the Jamentations and woes of those who bartered away 





The Seven Vials 503 


their bodies and souls in the marts of Babylon the 
great. Verse 20 is anticipative of what is more fully 
developed in the first part of the next chapter; so com- 
ment thereon will be reserved till we reach that pass- 
age. 

The symbolic action of the strong angel described 
in verse 21 is an intensified picture of the act which 
Jeremiah commanded Seraiah to perform when he 
should come to Babylon, namely, to read all the words 
of the prophecy of the utter destruction of Babylon, 
and then to bind a stone to the book of the prophecy, 
and cast it into the midst of the Euphates, and say, 
‘Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the 
evil that I shall bring upon her” (Jer. 51:59-64). 
This makes very clear that the destruction of the lit- 
eral Babylon, and the prophecies regarding the same, 
were typical foreshadowings of the destruction of spir- 
itual Babylon. 

The angel’s words announce most impressively the 
vanishing forever of all the joys and delights of the 
great city, the music and the song, the hum of indus- 
try, the brightness of its illumination, and above all, 
the rejoicings of bridegroom and bride, which in the 
Bible stand for the highest of-all human joys. In this 
connection Jeremiah 25:10 should be recalled. Speak- 
ing there of the coming doom of Babylon, God said: 
“I will take from them the voice of mirth and the 
voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the 
voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the 
light of the candle’. 





504 The Patmos Visions — 


The concluding words of God’s indictment of the 
spiritual Babylon set her sin in the clearest light. Her 
merchants were the great ones of the earth, whereas 
Christ, the lawful King, has no place in this world, and 
has commanded His followers to take the lowest place 
init. By her sorceries all nations have been deceived; 
and in her was found the blood of prophets, and of 
saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth. 


CHAPTER XII 


Rejoicings in Heaven. The Marriage of the 
Lamb. The Battle of Armageddon. 


“And after these things I heard a great voice of much people 
in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, 
and power, unto the Lord our God. For true and righteous are 
His judgments: for He hath judged the great whore, which did 
corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the 
blood of His servants at her hand. And again they said, 
Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever. And the 
four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and wor- 
shipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen: Alleluia” 
(19:1-4). 

T VERSE 20 of the preceding chapter is a call 
to heaven, and to the holy apostles and prophets 
of God, to rejoice over the downfall of Baby- 

lon, because God has avenged them on her. And here 
is the response, which comes in “‘a great voice of much 
people in heaven’. It is, of course, the voice of the 
redeemed saints of God, with apostles and prophets 
at their head. ‘These break forth into Hallelujahs; 
and as has been often remarked, these are the only 
Hallelujahs in the New Testament. It seems as if 
they had been reserved for this special occasion; and 
in this we have a further proof of the transcendent im- 
portance in God’s eyes of what is delineated in the 
preceding chapter. ‘The Hallelujahs are four in num- 
ber (three in the verses quoted above, and the fourth 
in verse 6) which points to God’s victory over the 


505 


ee tse ic SHOE SESE SY STE PEPER EE TEES ATPL TESTED: 


506 The Patmos Visions 


powers of earth, of which four is the numerical symbol. 
The participation of the four and twenty elders and 
the four living creatures in this celebration is also sig- 
nificant. One of the Hallelujahs is uttered by them, 
and with it they join an Amen. These, being pure 
Hebrew words, serve to mark the connection between 
the Old Testament and the New, and particularly to 
show the continuity of God’s people, as constituting 
one body, embracing all the elect of all the dispensa- 
tions. 

The O. T. basis for this wonderful scene is found in 
Psalm 104:35. It is the Psalm of the earth, describ- 
ing, in language of surpassing beauty its “foundations” 
(v. 5), its covering waters, its mountains and valleys 
and running streams, its verdure and trees, and all the 
creatures, man included, to whom God has given it for 
a home. And it ends in these words: “I will sing unto 
the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God 
while I have my being. My meditation of Him shall 
be sweet; I will be glad in the Lord. Let the sinners 
be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no 
more’; and in anticipation of this, the psalmist ex- 
claims, “Bless thou the Lord, O my soul. Hallelujah’’! 
Thus the thought of the destruction of the wicked out 
of the earth evokes a Hallelujah from one who is in 
accord with the mind and purposes of God. For just 
as in this day of salvation, His people rejoice with Him 
in the salvation of sinners, even so, in the coming day 
of judgment they will rejoice with Him in the judgment 
of the wicked. 





Rejoicings in Heaven 507 


The ground of the ascription of praise in Revelation 
19:1 and 2, is the truth and justice of God’s judgments, 
as exemplified in the judgment of the great whore who 
had corrupted the earth with her fornication, by which 
judgment He had avenged the blood of His servants 
that had been shed by her. (The phrase at her hand, 
is literally, out of her hand, as if their blood had flowed 
from her hand. Thus God spake concerning Jezebel, 
“that I may avenge the blood of My servants.... at 
the hand of Jezebel’, 2 K. 9:7). 

The redeemed in glory now know beyond a doubt or 
misgiving that “Salvation is of the Lord” (Ps. 3:9; 
Jonah 2:9). Hence they ascribe “Salvation, and glory, 
and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God’’. Con- 
cerning this ascription of praise, Hengstenberg re- 
marks: 


“The whole doxology rests upon the doxology of the Lord’s 
prayer in Matthew 6:13, ‘For Thine is the kingdom, and the 
power, and the glory’, for the genuineness of which this very 
passage affords decisive evidence. There redemption out of 
evil is grounded in the power and glory of God, here the power 
and glory are deduced from the redemption out of evil. . . . 
The realization of the doxology in the Paternoster is there 
anticipated by faith; here it has in part entered into reality, 
though the kingdom, the dominion, still awaits its full realiza- 
tion”. 

He goes on to point out that allusions to the first 


Gospel pervade the whole Apocalypse, saying: 


“An allusion specially to Matthew was the more natural 
here, as among the first three Gospels, this of the fellow-apostle 





508 The Patmos Visions 


of John everywhere occupies the foreground in the Apocalypse, 
which is a remarkable fact, and fraught with important results’. 


THE MARRIAGE OF THE LAMB 


“And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, 
all ye His servants, and ye that fear Him, both small and great. 
And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as 
the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunder- 
ings, saying, Alleluia; for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. 
Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the 
marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself 
ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in 
fine linen, clean and white; for the fine linen is the righteous- 
ness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they 
which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And 
he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. And I 
fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou 
do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have 
the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus 


is the spirit of prophecy”? (19:5-10). 


This voice from the throne is, of course, that of God 
Himself, Who now calls for a universal anthem of 
praise, from all His servants, and from all who fear 
Him, both small and great. ‘The response is tremen- 
dous; and the expressed reason for this last ‘‘Hallelu- 
jah” is that the Lord has taken the kingdom. Thus is 
accomplished that which the mighty angel so solemnly 
announced in Chapter 10:6, 7, and the great voices in 
heaven of Chapter 11:15 celebrated anticipatively. 

The hosts of the redeemed are now made aware of 
another development about to take place, a further 
occasion for them to be glad, and rejoice, and give 





Rejoicings in Heaven 509 


honor to God; for the marriage of the Lamb ap- 
proaches, and His wife has made herself ready. 
There is little room for doubt that “the bride of the 
Lamb” is a symbol for the one body of the redeemed, 
and not the symbol for a special company selected out 
of the entire number, nor for the saved of a particular 
dispensation only. For commonly in the N. T. the one 
church of Christ (embracing all the saints of God) 
is represented under the image of a bride. The earli- 
est occurrence of this figure historically is in John 3 :29, 
in the days of the ministry of John the Baptist, where 
Christ is referred to as ‘‘the Bridegroom’’, and those 
who were turning to Him are spoken of as “the bride’. 
The passage before us is itself sufficient to exclude the 
idea that the bride is a select company less than the 
whole number of God’s saints; for in referring to her 
garments of fine linen, pure and lustrous white, the 
explanation is introduced that ‘‘the fine linen is the 
righteousness of the saints’. And since in any view 
of the word “‘righteousness’’, as here used, it pertains 
equally to al] the saints; and since all wear the bridal 
attire, all are included in the symbol of the bride. The 
phrase “of the Lamb” points in no uncertain way to 
the same conclusion. For in the word ‘‘Lamb’’ we 
have another symbol of Christ’s relation to His peo- 
ple, a relation that, beyond all dispute, extends to all 
who are redeemed by His precious blood, and whose 
names were written, from the foundation of the world, 
in the Lamb’s book of life. As to what is commonly 
advanced to support the contrary view, it need only 


510 The Patmos Visions 


be remarked that it is pressing the details of a figure 
or symbolic, image altogether too far to argue that 
those invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb must 
be a different company from those that form the bride. 

What verse 8 declares is that the fine linen is the 
righteousnesses, or righteous acts, of the saints. That is 
to say, it represents ‘‘not the glory of the saints, but 
their excellencies’’ (Hengstenberg). In this there is, 
of course, no contradiction to the doctrine of Scrip- 
ture that all human righteousness is as filthy rags, and 
that apart from the grace of God none can do a single 
meritorious act. For notwithstanding that without 
Him we can do nothing, God is nevertheless pleased 
to ascribe excellence and “righteousness” to everything 
that His people may seek to do in obedience to His 
will. 

The announcement of the approaching marriage of 
the Lamb is put directly in contrast with that of the 
preceding chapter concerning Babylon, ‘‘And the voice 
of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no 
more at all in thee’. Joy has now departed from the 
earth; but it breaks out in its fullness in heaven. For 
this is the joy of the heavenly Bridegroom, the supreme 
joy of Christ, Who for the joy that was set before 
Him, endured the cross, and made Himself the sacri- 
ficial Lamb (Heb. 12:2). Now as the risen and glori- 
fied Lamb, He is to ‘‘see of the travail of His soul and 
be satisfied” (Isa. 53:11). 

That much importance is attached to this announce- 
ment of the marriage supper of the Lamb appears 





Rejoicings in Heaven ae! 


from the circumstance that the revealing angel charges 
John specially to write: ‘Blessed are they which are 
called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb’, and 
adds the assurance that ‘‘these are the true sayings of 
God”. John himself is so deeply impressed that he 
falls at the feet of the angel to worship him. There is 
no need to comment further upon this incident. 

This vision takes us only to the announcement of 
the approaching marriage of the Lamb. The subject 
is interrupted here, to be resumed at chapter 21:9. 


THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON 


“And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse; and 
He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in 
righteousness He doth judge and make war. His eyes were 
as a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns; and He 
had a name written, that no man knew but He Himself. And 
He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and His name 
is called Ihe Word of God and the armies which were in 
heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, 
white and clean. And out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, 
that with it He should smite the nations: and He shall rule 
them with a rod of iron: and He treadeth the winepress of the 
fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He hath on His 
vesture and on His thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, 
AND LORD OF LORDS” (19:11-16). 


Here is another description of Christ in the glory 
of His Human nature, comparable to that of Chap- 
ter I. In two particulars the several descriptions 
agree; for here again it is said that His eyes were as 
a flame of fire, and out of His mouth goeth a sharp 
sword. In all other particulars the present description 


iia The Patmos Visions 


differs from the earlier one, the differences being such 
as to express the very different character of the mis- 
sion upon which He now comes forth. He now comes 
as ‘King of kings and Lord of lords’, in keeping with 
which He is not on foot, as when walking in the midst 
of the golden candlesticks, but is mounted on a white 
horse. Moreover, He now has upon His head many 
diadems. He comes at this time to “judge and make 
war’; and in keeping with this He is clothed with a 
vesture dipped in blood (see Isa. 63:1-3). In the 
former vision He stood alone; but now He is accom- - 
panied by the armies of heaven. 

The white horse upon which Christ is mounted 
forms a contrast with His last entry into Jerusalem, 
when He was mounted upon the foal of an ass (Mat. 
21:7). It also connects this vision with that of 6:2. 
There He is seen going forth in the gospel, ‘‘conquer- 
ing’; and now He comes “‘to conquer’’. For there can 
be no doubt as to the issue of the approaching conflict. 
Psalm XLV isin view. The psalmist is there speaking 
of things he has made “touching the King’’, of whom 
he says: “Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O most 
Mighty, with Thy glory and Thy majesty, and in Thy 
majesty ride prosperously’. His Name is here called 
“The Word of God”. What the Word of God is able 
to accomplish is shown in the first chapter of the Bible; 
and certainly none can withstand Him who now comes 
in the might of that Name. On this, Bengel, remarks: 


“Tt is not said here, His Name is called Jesus; for here He 
manifests Himself not as the Saviour of His people, but as the 





Rejoicings in Heaven Ishi: 


destroyer of His enemies. —The Name Jesus especially unfolds 
His grace; and the Name, the Word of God, His majesty. 
How deep must that, which is indicated by this Name, lie in 
the unsearchable God-head !”’ 


“And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with 
a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of 
heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper 
of the great God; that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the 
flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of 
horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, 
both free and bond, both small and great” (19:17, 18). 


That the issue of the approaching conflict is certain, 
further appears by this summons to all the fowls of 
the air to come to the great supper of God (for the 
adjective great belongs to the noun supper). ‘The 
foundation passage in this case is Ezekiel 39:17-32, 
where God commands the prophet to 

“Speak to every feathered fowl and to every beast of the field, 
Assemble yourselves and come, gather yourselves on every side 
to My sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, that ye may eat flesh 


and drink blood. Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink 
the blood of the princes of the earth”’. 


There is a striking contrast between this great sup- 
per of God, to which the fowls of the air are sum- 
moned, and that of the preceding chapter, concerning 
which it is written, “Blessed are they which are called 
to the marriage supper of the Lamb”. 

“And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their 
armies, gathered together to make war against Him that sat 
on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, 


and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before 
him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark 





514 The Patmos Visions 


of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. “These both 
were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And 
the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the 
horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth; and all the 
fowls were filled with their flesh” (19:20, 21). 

The description of this great battle, which decides 
forever the possession of the kingdoms of this world, 
is remarkably brief; and this noticeable brevity in de- © 
scribing that upon which such tremendous issues hung, 
is the more significant because of the comparatively 
long account given in this same passage of the appear- 
ance of Christ. Thus we are reminded again that this 
Book is the Revelation of Jesus Christ. 

This concentration of hostile forces includes the 
beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies. 
The false prophet (the second beast) is not named in 
this enumeration of those whom John saw ‘‘gathered 
together to make war against Him that sat on the 
horse, and against His army”, which would suggest 
that the second beast did not take the field to engage 
actively in the battle. But in the next verse it is stated 
that “‘the beast was taken (lit. seized) and with him 
the false prophet”. These both were cast alive into a 
lake of fire, burning with brimstone. There is a close 
agreement here with what Daniel saw of the end of 
the fourth beast of his vision, and of the little horn 
that had a mouth speaking great things: “I beheld 
then, because of the voice of the great words which 
the horn spake; I beheld even till the beast was slain, 





Rejotcings in Heaven 515 


and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame”’ 
GDanw Pills 

Christ’s earthly enemies are now all consumed; for 
the remnant were slain with the sword of His mouth, 
“which is a spiritual weapon of resistless might”’ (Ben- 
gel). This recalls what He Himself has said: “He 
that rejecteth Me, and receiveth not My words, hath 
one that judgeth him; the word that I have spoken’ — 
the sword of His mouth—‘“the same shall judge him 
in the last day’ (John 12:48). 


THE BINDING OF SATAN. THE THOUSAND YEARS. 
Tue Last JUDGMENT 

“And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the 
key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And 
he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, 
and Satan, and bound him a thousand years. And cast him 
into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon 
him, that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand 
years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a 
little season” (20:1-3). 


The end of all the earthly enemies of Christ was 
shown in the visions of the preceding chapter. There 
remains, therefore, only the arch enemy, the great 
spiritual adversary; and now he too is dealt with. It 
is a further proof of the greatness of the Devil that 
he is not disposed of in summary fashion, as were his 
instruments, the beast, the false prophet, and the kings 
of the earth. Satan is dealt with in two distinct stages. 
For at this stage of affairs he is bound with a great 
chain, and cast into the bottomless pit, where he is 





516 The Patmos Visions 


shut up, and a seal set upon him. But his imprison- 
ment there is not for eternity; for after a thousand 
years he is to be “‘loosed out of his prison” (v. 8). 
Then after ‘‘a little season” he is to be ‘‘cast into the 
lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the 
false prophet are, and be tormented day and night for 
éver and;ever (v.10): 

From the fact that the angel of verse 1 has the key 
of the bottomless pit (not that it was given him, as in 
9:1) it 1s inferred, and I think rightly, that this angel 
is Christ. Other considerations point to the same con- 
clusion. Thus, none of the created angels is great 
enough for this (Jude 9). Again, in Chapter 12:9, 
where it is said that the dragon, that old serpent, 
called the Devil and Satan (which four titles are re- 
peated here) was cast out of heaven, the clear impli- 
cation is that Christ, the Manchild, cast him out, in 
fulfilment of the prophecy of Genesis 3:15. This af- 
fords ground for the belief that, in this further casting 
down of Satan, Christ Himself is the Actor. 

The bottomless pit was opened once before. Then 
it was to let an evil and destructive thing out (9:1-3). 
Now it is to put the author of all evil and destruction 
in. Moreover, the abyss is now sealed up; and inas- 
much as this seal is set upon the mouth of the pit by 
the hand of God, we have perfect assurance that the 
pit will not open its mouth to let out any evil thing, 
until the thousand years be fulfilled. This is the means 
whereby not only the banishment of the Devil himself 
is secured, but also the earth is protected from all 


Rejoicings in Heaven 517 


noxious influences. Parallel to this, but wonderfully 
in contrast, is the attempt that was made to seal the 
body of Christ in the tomb; as it is written, “So they 
went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, 
and setting a watch” (Mat. 27:66). But that was as 
vain as the attempt to keep His soul in hades. For 
God raised Him up, ‘‘having loosed the pains of death, 
because it was not possible that He should be holden 
of it” (Ac. 2:24). That was a vain attempt to seal 
up in the nether world the Author of life and blessing. 
This is the effectual sealing up in the abyss of the au- 
thor of death and the curse. 

And so at last an era of life and blessing comes to 
the world, over which sin and death have held sway 
for six thousand years; and the first guaranty of this 
(and the first condition necessary to secure it) is that 
the earthly enemies of God are destroyed, that the 
Devil is cast into the pit, and that its mouth is ab- 
solutely stopped for a thousand years. 


“And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment 
was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were 
beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, 
and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, 
neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their 
hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 
But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years 
were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy 
is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second 
death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of 
Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years” (vv. 4-6). 





518 The Patmos Visions 


Another scene here presents itself, very different in 
character from the last. Thrones are set up, and per- 
sons are seated upon them. ‘These are the victors 
over the beast; and prominent among them are those 
who had suffered martyrdom for the testimony of 
Jesus Christ. ‘The description of these reigning ones 
tallies with that of the company of Chapter 15 :2-4, 
who stand upon the sea of glass and sing the song of 
Moses and the Lamb. Furthermore, we have in this 
vision the fulfilment of the song of the four living 
creatures and the four and twenty elders, those whom 
Christ had redeemed by His blood, and had made 
kings and priests unto God (5:9, 10). Particularly 
does this vision answer to the last words of that re- 
demption song, “And we shall reign on (or over) the 
earth”. For here it is expressly declared that these 
are they who have part “‘in the first resurrection, over 
whom the second death hath no power, but they shall 
be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with 
Him a thousand years”? (v. 6). Therefore I see no 
reason to doubt that these throned ones of v. 4 are 
those whom Christ has redeemed to God by His blood 
out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and na- 
tion (5: 9, 10). Moreover, verse 6 of Chapter 20 
says of all who have part in the first resurrection, that 
they shall be priests of God, and shall reign with Christ 
during the thousand years. The description of verse 4 
is not to be taken as limited to a particular and select 
company of the redeemed (martyrs, and such as have 
gained the victory in some special way over the beast) ; 





Rejotcings in Heaven 519 


for all who are Christ’s participate in the victory. The 
victory is His; but He gives it to us. This was said 
with particular reference to overcoming the powers of 
death and hell (1 Cor. 15:55-57). Furthermore, it is 
plainly taught that the exaltation of the redeemed of 
the Lord to the rank and dignity of kings is just as 
much a matter of grace, as is the forgiveness of their 
sins. For the very same passage which. declares that 
in Christ Jesus we have “redemption through His 
blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches 
of His grace’, goes on to say that God “hath quickened 
us together with Christ (by grace ye are saved) and 
hath raised us up together, and made us sit together 
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus’’; that is to say, has 
exalted us together and enthroned us together, in 
Christ Jesus; for “raised up’ here means exalted to 
high dignity; and to “‘sit’’, is to sit on a throne (Eph. 
1:7; 2:5-8). And this exaltation to the throne, be it 
noted, is as much comprehended in the twice-repeated 
statement, ‘“‘by grace ye are saved’, as is the forgive- 
ness of sins. It should also be noted that the words 
of Revelation 20:4, “they lived and reigned with 
Christ’’, agree with the words, ‘“‘quickened us together, 
and made us sit together... in Christ Jesus’. I deem 
it clear, therefore, that the passage in Ephesians which 
views “the eternal purpose of God in Christ Jesus’’ 
(3:11) as if it were already accomplished, looks for- 
ward to this vision of Revelation XX. And we must 
remember that the things John saw, and which he de- 
scribes as already past—(“‘they lived and reigned’ )— 





520 The Patmos Visions 


were in fact many centuries in the future at the time 
he saw and described them. Likewise in the passage 
in Ephesians, past tenses are used in speaking of things 
not yet accomplished. 

As regards the period here given as ‘‘a thousand 
years’, we should seek the spiritual and symbolical 
meaning of the term. What chiefly impresses me is 
that it conveys the idea of fullness and completeness. 
That coming period of blessing will be full measure. 
It will not be broken or curtailed. And that satisfies 
me better than to know the duration of the period, in 
the measure of years as we now count them. The long- 
est human life fell short of a thousand years (Gen. 
5:27); but that period during which the Devil will be 
incarcerated, and the redeemed of the Lord shall reign 
with Him, will be fully rounded out and complete. 
That is one side of the matter. 

But nevertheless the millennium is not the eternal 
state of perfection and blessedness. Hence it will come 
toanend. Itis to be observed that the phrase, a thou- 
sand years, occurs six times in these few verses. This 
impresses upon our minds the importance in God’s eyes 
of what those words denote; and the subject surely is 
immensely important. But the six is itself significant. 
It very definitely signifies that the millennium, with all 
its blessings, nevertheless comes short of. perfection. 
It does not reach either to seven or twelve. It is not 
the new heaven and the new earth. It is not the eternal 
dwelling place of God and His children. The Bible 


would be incomplete if it carried us no further than 





Rejoicings in Heaven 521 


the millennium. But more is to come. We are to see 
even “greater things than these’. 


“And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be 
loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations 
which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, 
to gather them together to battle; the number of whom is as 
the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the 
earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the 
beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and 
devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast 
into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the 
false prophets are, and shall be tormented day and night for 
ever and ever” (vv. 7-10). ( 


The facts here stated are of deep interest; but there 
are no explanations given of the questions to which 
they give rise. Why is Satan loosed again out of his 
prison? And who are these nations that are in the 
four quarers of the earth, Gog and Magog, the num- 
ber of whom is as the sand of the sea? And whence 
came they? seeing that the kings of the earth and of 
the whole world were gathered to the battle of that 
great day of God Almighty, and were slain with the 
sword of Him that sat upon the horse? (16:14; 19: 
21). God has not given us, so far as I know, the 
means whereby to obtain answers to these interesting 
questions; and personally I am not disposed to spend 
much time upon them. For during the millennium, 
that is now close at hand, we shall have not only the 
opportunity, but also the ability, to inquire fully into 
these matters. Therefore, I shall content myself with 
but a few suggestions in respect to this passage. 





522 The Patmos Visions 


In the first place, the millennium is a period during 
which the natural creation is restored virtually to the 
state in which it subsisted before the entrance of sin 
into the world; and moreover, God’s plan for the nat- 
ural creation will then be carried out, in that man will 
‘“‘have dominion over all the earth’’, and over all liv- 
ing creatures. It is evidently a part of God’s plan to 
give a good long view of His creation as it was, and 
as it would have continued to be if sin had not brought 
death and the curse upon it. But it was for some good 
reason necessary at the beginning, in order that God’s 
purposes might be fully accomplished, that the Devil 
be permitted to tempt man, and to have opportunity 
to practice deception upon him. Evidently there ex- 
ists, in the wisdom of God, a similar need in the re- 
stored creation. Will a long period of millennial con- 
ditions instil into the hearts of natural men the spirit 
of obedience to God? The Devil is reserved for use 
in putting that matter to the test; and he is ready and 
eager to make the attempt, for the “thousand years”’ 
in the abyss have not wrought any change of heart in 
him. . 

Then as to the nations (or heathen, for such appears 
to be the invariable significance of the word in this 
Book) whom the Devil goes out to deceive, who and 
whence are they? ‘The statement that they are in the 
four quarters (corners) of the earth is generally taken 
to mean that they are people inhabiting remote regions, 
beyond even the fringes of civilization; and it is 
thought that some of these might have escaped the 


Rejoicings in Heaven 523 


judgments of the great day of wrath. This is at least 
a possibility, since ‘‘Babylon’’ would embrace only 
_ those within the limits of christendom; and the battle 
of Armageddon would involve only the active enemies 
of Christ. Furthermore, the words ‘Gog and Magog”’ 
(v. 8) can have been introduced into this vision for no 
other purpose than to direct us to the prophecy of 
Ezekiel, Chapters XX XVIII, XX XIX. The subject of 
that prophecy is the final conflict of God’s people 
(Israel) with their enemies; final, because the 
prophecy closes with the promise that God will not 
hide His face from them (‘“‘the whole house of Israel’’ ) 
any more (39:25, 29). This prophecy follows imme- 
diately the vision of the valley of dry bones, which rep- 
resents (as therein explained) God’s purpose to bring 
‘the whole house of Israel’? out of their graves, and 
to bring them into the land of Israel (37:11-14). It 
is really a part of that prophecy, since Chapter 38 be- 
gins with the word ‘‘And’’. So we have here, as in 
Revelation XX, a scene representing the resurrection 
of the people of God, followed by an attack upon them 
of heathen from remote quarters of the earth, led by 
Gog, the chief prince of the region designated as 
‘Magog’. The words, ‘and ye shall live’ (Ez. 37: 
14) are re-echoed in the words, “and they lived” (Rev. 
20:4). Gog and Magog, with their heathen hordes, 
were to ‘‘ascend and come like a storm’’; they were 
to come up ‘against My people Israel”, said the Lord, 
‘fas a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter 
days, and I will bring thee against My land, that the 





524 The Patmos Visions 


heathen may know Me, when I shall be sanctified in 
thee, O Gog, before their eyes” (38:9, 16). But Gog 
and his hosts were to be overthrown: 


“Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou and all 
thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee 
unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the 
field to be devoured. ‘Thou shalt fall upon the open field; for 
I have spoken it, saith the Lord God. And I will send fire on 
Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles; and 
they shall know that I am the Lord” (39:4-6). 


That the matter of this prophecy is of the utmost 
importance appears from the words that follow: 


“Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord (odie pis 
is the day whereof I have spoken” (v. 8). 


From the above it will be clearly seen that, notwith- 
standing differences in-detail, the prophecy of Ezekiel 
and that of Revelation resemble each other closely in 
their general features, the resemblances being suffi- 
ciently close to warrant the conclusion that they refer 
to the same event. 

In Revelation 20:11 is God’s record of the final dis- 
position to be made of the last and greatest of His 
enemies, the Devil, who is to be cast into the lake of 
fire and brimstone, where the other two enemies al- 
ready are, and where he shall be tormented day and 
night for ever and ever. 


‘And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, 
from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there 
was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and 
great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and an- 





Rejoicings in Heaven 525 


other book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead 
were judged out of those things which were written in the 
books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead 
which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead 
which were in them: and they were judged every man according 
to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of 
fire. ‘This is the second death. And whosoever was not found 
written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” 


(vv. 11-15). 


We come now to the last scene of the old creation, 
a scene of awful solemnity. John sees a throne, of 
which but two things are stated; it is great and it is 
white. ‘“The throne’’, says Bengel, “is white as an em- 
blem of the glory of the Judge, and great as befits His 
great and infinite majesty’; and to this, Hengstenberg 
adds, ‘‘He who sits on the throne is God in the un- 
divided unity of His Being, without respect to the diver- 
sity of Persons’. 

And now is fulfilled the prophecy of Peter; ‘“The 
heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the 
elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, 
and the works that are therein, shall be burned up” 
(2 Pet. 3:10). John’s brief statement, ‘from whose 
face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was 
found no place for them’’, declare that now they have 
ceased to exist. 

And who are these that stand before God? They 
are ‘‘the dead’; and all are there, both ‘‘small and 
great’. These are in contrast with the company of 
verse 4, of whom it was said that ‘‘they Jived’. For 
these are the spiritually dead; they who have never re- 





526 The Patnoe Vasions 


ceived God’s free gift of eternal life through Jesus 
Christ; they who are dead even while they live (1 Tim. 
5:6). For death is not extinction of being. On the 
contrary, it is, like life, a state of being; a state of ex- 
istence however, that is in every particular the oppo- 
site of life. Christ when on earth declared concern- 
ing those who heard His word and believed on Him 
who had sent Him, that they should not come unto 
judgment, but were passed out of death into life (John 
5:24). So here we have those who believed not, for 
they are come into judgment, and are in the state of 
death. 


This is the day and the scene whereof the apostle 
Paul wrote in his Epistle to the Romans, ‘“‘the day 
when God shall judge the secrets of men’”’ (Rom. 2:6). 
For the records are all there; and we may be well as- 
sured that God’s accounts are both complete and exact. 
And the books are now opened, and the dead—not the 
living, for none of them will come into judgment— 
are judged out of those things which were written in 
.the books, according to their works. For while all 
‘the dead’? share the same condemnation, there are 
varying degrees of punishments, as of rewards. The 
Lord will “reward every man according to his works”’ 
(Mat. 16:27). Daniel too foresaw this scene, though 
his vision was not so full as to the details. He merely 
says, ‘The judgment was set, and the books were 
opened wiDan.1/29): 

But there is “another book” there, the book of life. 
The reason why it is there appears from verse 15. It 





Rejoicings in Heaven 527 


was there to show that the names of those who are 
judged are not written therein. 

Heaven and earth and sea have now fled away. But 
the sea gave up the dead that were in it; and death and 
the nether world gave up the dead that were in them; 
and they were judged “every man’ (for not one can 
escape) “according to their works’; and all whose 
names were not found written in the book of life were 
cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, 
whereof Christ had already spoken in His message to 
the church in Smyrna (2:11). It isan eternal state. 

Moreover, it is here recorded that ‘‘death and hell 
(hades, or the nether world) were cast into the lake of 
fire’. Death is now completely cast out of God’s crea- 
tion, into which it had entered “by sin” (Ro. 5:12). 
And there being no death, there is no longer any need 
for a place of the dead; so hades is cast out with it. 
And thus is fulfilled the apostle’s saying: “‘The last 
enemy that shall be destroyed is death” (1 Cor. 
15:26). 


CHAPTER XIII 


The New Heaven and New Earth. The 
Bride. The Holy Jerusalem. 


“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first 
heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no 
more sea” (21:1). 


TERNITY. The things of time and sense are 
kK passed away. The final shaking, not of ‘“‘the 

earth only, but also heaven’, has taken eas 
“that those things which cannot be shaken may remain” 
Pilea 22627) 

In the passage quoted above, wherein Peter fore- 
tells the passing away of ‘‘the heavens and the earth 
which now are’, he goes on immediately to say: 
‘‘Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for 
new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth right- 
eousness” (2 Pet. 3:13). And this is what is now 
shown to John, a new heaven and a new earth, in which 
dwelleth righteousness. As Hengstenberg says: 


“Everything is now prepared for the entrance of the last 
phase of the Kingdom of God; for the foundation of the new 
earth in which righteousness dwells; for the erection upon it 
of the Kingdom of glory; for the solemnization of the marriage 
of the Lamb, to the threshold of which we were brought by 
the song of praise in Chapter 19:6-8. This sacred closing 
history is the subject of the present group of visions. A church 
which has such a hope will not faint under tribulations. She - 
beholds the end and is comforted”. 


528 


The New Heaven and New Earth 529 


“And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down 
from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her 
husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, 
Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell 
with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself 
shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe 
away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, 
neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more 
pain: for the former things are passed away. And He that sat 
upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He 
said, unto me, Write; for these words are true and faithful. 
And He said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the 
beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of 
the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh 
shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be 
My son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, 
and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and _ idol- 
aters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which 
burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” 
(vv. 2-8). 

No description is given of the new heaven and earth, 
beyond the statement that there was no more sea, 
which probably refers, as elsewhere in this Book, to 
the turbulent sea of the God-disowning nations, as that 
view would be in keeping also with the statement that 
now the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall 
dwell with them. John’s attention is engaged by the 
wondrous sight of the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming 
down out of heaven, as a bride adorned for her hus- 
band. Bengel remarks: “It is not the new city of the 
millennium, but one perfectly new and eternal, as is 
shown by the series of visions, the magnificence of the 
description, and the contrast in regard to the second 


death’’. 





530 The Patmos Visions 


Verse 2 merely announces the subject of the vision. 
This is taken up with various particulars at verse 9. 
Meanwhile two voices are heard. One, a great voice 
out of heaven, proclaims that God will now make His 
abode with men, and will be their God; and that tears, 
death, sorrow, crying, and pain shall be no more; for 
the former things are passed away. The other which is 
that of God Himself, confirms this, saying: ‘‘Behold, I 
make all things new’; and John is charged specially to 
write this. Further He declares, speaking directly to 
John, “It is done’. This is the same word that was 
uttered at the pouring out of the seventh vial (16:17). 
It signifies the accomplishment of something of the 
greatest moment. The added words “I AM Alpha 
and Omega’’, lend force to the declaration; for they 
imply the completion at last of some long cherished 
purpose. The next words indicate that that purpose 
was the opening again, to this death-ruled world, of the 
fountain of the water of life, so that all might freely 
drink thereof. This saying points on to Chapter 22:1 
and 17. It announces the completion of Christ’s salva- 
tion, as prophesied in Isaiah 55:1-4. Under the appro- 
priate figure of an ever flowing river, proceeding from 
an eternal source—the throne of God and the Lamb, 
it proclaims tlre fullness and the endlessness of the life 
of the redeemed. Continuing (and still speaking directly 
to John) He sums up in a short, comprehensive saying, 
the wonderful reward about to be given to him that 
overcometh: “He that overcometh shall inherit all 


things ; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son”. 








The New Heaven and New Earth = 531 





So we have, in these introductory verses, a brief sum- 
ming up of God’s great purposes in redemption, now at 
last fulfilled. 

By way of strong contrast verse 8 proclaims the aw- 
ful doom of the lost. These are comprehended in 
eight categories arranged in four pairs, four being the 
symbol of the unredeemed earth. 


‘““And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had 
the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with 
me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s 
wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high 
mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, 
descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God: 
and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a 
jasper stone, clear as crystal; And had a wall great and high, 
and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names 
written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of 


the children of Israel” (vv. 9-12). 


After the introduction, we have the main subject of 
the vision, the holy Jerusalem, here presented as the 
bride, the Lamb’s wife, her chief adornment being 
stated in the words, ‘‘Having the glory of God”. This 
is a distinction and a splendor that cannot be surpassed; 
and further it is said that her light is like unto the 
most precious of stones, even like a jasper, clear as 
crystal. ‘This recalls the appearance of Him Who sat 
upon the throne, in John’s first vision of heaven, who 
was like a jasper and a sardius. Thus the glory of the 
very Person and of the throne of God envelops and 
adorns the holy City. The same association of ideas, 
that is the idea of the company of God’s redeemed 





GQ2 The Patmos Visions 


people as being His bride, and as being also the glor- 
ious city of His habitation, is found in Isaiah LIV 
where it is written, “For thy Maker is thy Husband; 
the Lord of hosts is His name; and thy Redeemer, the 
Holy One of Israel” (v. 5); and further, ‘Behold, I 
will lay thy stones with fair colors, and thy foundations 
with sapphires. And I will make thy windows of 
agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders 
of pleasant stones” (vv. 11, 12). In what follows (in 
Rev. X XI), mention is made of her walls and gates, of 
her foundations and measurements, and lastly of her 
inhabitants. Her gates are twelve in number, every 
several gate of one pearl. (v. 21); and her founda- 
tions also are twelve in number, each foundation being 
of a precious stone different from the others (vv. 19, 
20). Again in verse 18 it is stated that the wall of the 
city is of jasper, that stone of dazzling whiteness; and 
the city of pure gold, like unto clear glass. This part of 
the description is also an amplification of a passage in 
Isaiah, which has for its subject, ‘“The city of the Lord, 
the Zion of the Holy One of Israel’’, where it is writ- 
ten: 


“Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor 
destruction within thy borders: but thou shalt call thy walls, 
Salvation, and thy gates, Praise. The sun shall be no more 
thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give 
light unto thee; but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting 
light, and thy God thy glory. ‘Thy sun shall no more go down; 
neither shall thy moon withdraw itself; for the Lord shall be 
thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be 
ended” (Isa. 60:18-20). 





The New Heaven and New Earth 533 


The Psalmist of old also wrote concerning the city 
of our God, saying, ‘Beautiful for situation, the joy of 
the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the 
north (or in the extreme north), the city of the great 
King. God is known in her palaces for a refuge.” (Ps. 
48:2, 3). Surely the psalmist’s eyes also must have 
been lifted up to see afar the city for which Abraham 
was looking in his day, “the city which hath the foun- 
dations, whose Builder and Maker is God” (Heb. 
11:10); for the language he uses is too glowing for 
any city of earth. And these words especially should 
move us as we contemplate the glory and effulgence of 
our future and eternal home :—‘‘Walk about Zion, and 
go round about her; tell the towers thereof. Mark 
ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may 
tell it to the generation following’ (Ps. 48:12,13). 
The reader should also consult Ezekiel’s delineation 
of the temple and city of God that was to be (which is 
too long to be discussed here), ending with the words, 
“And the name of the city from that day shall be, 
JEHOVAH THEREIN” (Ezek. 48:35). 

In order that John might see this wondrous city, he 
is carried away in the spirit to a great and high moun- 
tain (v.10). That mountain, we must remember, is on 
the new earth. This is the true ‘“‘Zion’’, the eternal 
mountain of God’s holiness, whereof the psalmist sang 
and the prophets spake, whose name was temporarily 
given to the elevated part of Jerusalem upon which the 
palace of king David stood. John is brought to that 
place of vision by one of the seven angels who had the 





534. The Patmos Visions 


golden vials. This is a link with the preceding visions; 
for it was one of those seven angels that carried John 
away in the spirit to the wilderness that he might see 
the judgment of Mystery Babylon the great. Thus our 
attention is directed to the parallelism of the two 
visions, in each of which is a woman, who also is a city. 

The wall of the New Jerusalem is “great and high”. 
This speaks, in symbolic language, of the absolute 
security of the inhabitants of that city; for the great 
purpose of the wall of a city is protection from ene- 
mies; and therefore a wall is commonly used in Scrip- 
ture as an image of protection and safety. The same 
thought is beautifully expressed in the passage quoted 
above from Isaiah 60, ‘‘And thou shalt call thy walls, 
Salvation’. 

As to the significance of the measuring of the city, 
enough has been said in connection with Chapter 11: 
1,2. The prominent feature here is the frequent occur- 
rence of the significant number twelve. In these few 
verses (12-21) may be noted at least twelve appear- 
ances of that number and multiples thereof. Thus, in 
verse 12 we find the twelve gates, twelve angels and 
twelve tribes (three occurrences); in verse 14 two 
occurrences; in verse 16 the three dimensions of the 
city (length, breadth and height) each twelve thous- 
and furlongs; in verse 17 the wall, 144 (twelve times 
twelve) furlongs (one occurrence) ; in verses 19 and 
20 the twelve foundations (one); and in verse 21 the 
twelve gates and twelve pearls (two). This number, 
as has been shown, is specially associated with ‘“‘the 


The New Heaven and New Earth isis 


Israel of God’’ (His special name for His elect peo- 
ple), as exemplified particularly in the twelve tribes of 
the Old Testament, and the twelve apostles of the 
New. These two companies of twelves come promi- 
nently into notice in the vision of the Eternal City, the 
former in connection with the gates, the latter in con- 
nection with the foundations. And first of all, this 
close association, in the eternal City, of the twelve 
tribes and twelve apostles, testifies in the clearest 
way the oneness of God’s true people, regardless of 
dispensational differences, and the continuity of His 
purpose throughout all the ages and stages of His deal- 
ings with mankind. 

Gates are for entrance, and that is the first thing 
that concerns those who are outside. There is but 
one way of entrance into the City whose walls are ‘‘Sal- 
vation’; and hence the gates are identical, each being 
of one pearl; which may be taken as expressing either 
the preciousness of God’s salvation to those who find it 
in Jesus Christ, or the preciousness to Him of those 
who enter in by the one “Door’’. According to Isaiah 
the gates of the City were to be called, ‘‘Praise’’, that 
being the name of the leading tribe, Judah. 

Foundations are for support, and it is in laying the 
foundation that the apostles were specially occupied. 
For Paul speaks of ‘‘the foundation of the apostles and 
prophets’ (Eph. 2:20); and in describing his own 
work, said, ‘‘As a wise masterbuilder I have laid the 
foundation” (1 Cor. 3:9). Both these passages show 
that Jesus Christ is the Foundation, as all the Scrip- 





530 The Patmos Visions 


tures testify. Therefore, just as there is but one Door 
of entrance, so likewise there is but one Foundation. 
Christ is the Door, and Christ is the Foundation. But 
in the language of symbols, and to express another 
aspect of the truth, the one gate is represented as 
twelve gates, and the one foundation as twelve founda- 
tions; just as, for the like purpose, the One Spirit is 
represented as seven Spirits. ‘There is no contradiction 
here, but on the contrary a beautiful harmony when 
the elements of the language of symbols (which are 
not difficult) are understood. When, therefore, we 
come to the foundation laid by the apostles, we find, 
not the sameness exhibited by the twelve gates, but on 
the contrary, the greatest variety of dazzling splendor 
and brilliancy, each of the twelve foundations being a 
precious stone different from every other. Thus they 
speak, in literally “glowing’’ and “‘sparkling’”’ terms, 
of the various glories and excellencies of Christ, the 
One Foundation. 

This grouping together of precious stones for the 
symbolic expression of a great truth is first presented 
to us in the directions God gave Moses for the fabrica- 
tion of the breast-plate of Urim and Thummin, that 
was to be worn by the high priests. It was to have 
“set in it settings of stones’’, twelve in number, in four 
rows, three in each row; and upon them were to be 
engraved “the names of the children of Israel, twelve, 
according to their names, like the engravings of a sig- 
net” (Ex. 28:15-21). It will be observed (and it is a 
point of much interest) that here the precious stones 





The New Heaven and New Earth S37 


are emblems of the twelve tribes, and that, as in the 
case of the gates of the Eternal City to which the 
names of the twelve tribes are given, they are arranged 
in four groups of three each. In the breast-plate of 
Israel’s high priest the precious stones speak plainly to 
God of the preciousness of His people Israel to Him; 
as it is elsewhere written, ‘‘For the Lord hath chosen 
Jacob for Himself, and Israel for His peculiar treas- 
ure’ (Ps. 135:4). But here again the symbols speak 
of Christ; for all the excellencies and beauties that 
God sees, or ever will see, in us, His people, are the 
excellencies and beauties of Christ, wrought in us by 
the power of His Holy Spirit. For the Spirit is given 
to work the mind and purpose of God in us, whom He 
did “‘predestinate to be conformed to the image of His 
Son, that He might be the First born among many 
brethren” (Rom. 8:26-29; 1 John 3:2; Phil. 3:21). 
The great truth that can be plainly read in these sym- 
bols, in the various uses made of them in the Scrip- 
tures, is God’s purpose to glorify His chosen people 
with His own glories, as seen in their perfection in 
Christ. And this is in precise agreement with His 
high-priestly prayer for them, wherein He said, ‘‘And 
the glory which Thou gavest Me, J have given them’ 
Globnih/ 22): 

Regarding the dimensions and shape of the City, it 
is recorded that the length, breadth and height of it 
are equal. ‘Those who overlook the fact that this 
Book is written in the sign-language, have produced 
some curiosities of interpretation (and of architecture 





538 in The Patmos Visions 


as well) by applying these statements in a literal and 
materialistic way. “The square was regarded among 
the ancients as that which is complete and perfect”’ 
(Hengstenberg). And here the thought is carried into 
three dimensions, to express more forcibly the idea of 
absolute perfection, as well as solidity. 

Finally, as to the street of the city (the word street 
being obviously used generically for streets) which is 
described as “pure gold, as it were transparent glass”’ 
(vy. 21), we are not, of course to tax our imagination 
with the vain effort to conceive of gold that is trans- 
parent. What is here emphasized is the absolute 
purity of the gold; and since transparent glass is a 
Bible symbol of purity, it is here used as a figure of the 
purity of the gold, as if it were said, “The gold is as 
pure as the most transparent crystal’. 


“And I saw no temple therein; for the Lord God Almighty 
and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need 
of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of 
God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof’ (vv. 22, 
2S))% 

The temple was the chief ornament, and the glory 
of the earthly Jerusalem; and to dwell in it was the 
highest aspiration of the spiritually-minded Israelite 
(Ps. 23:6; 27:4). [he foundation thought embodied 
in the earthly sanctuary was God’s dwelling with His 
people. ‘This appears in the first mention of it, ‘“And 
let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among 
them” (Ex. 25:8). This great purpose of God has 
its final and eternal realization, not in a special building 





The New Heaven and New Earth 539 


located within the confines of the City, but in the City 
itself. ‘The wondrous truth here revealed goes far be- 
yond what the types would have suggested to even the 
most spiritually-minded of the saints, namely, that God 
purposes not only to bring His redeemed people into 
His own house, but to bring them into a vital and 
perfect union with Himself, such as it is not possible 
for us now to comprehend. This is what was in view 
in the words of Christ, following the quotation above 
concerning the glory He has given His people, ‘‘I in 
them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect 
in one’ (John 17:23). When this thought is per- 
ceived, even faintly, it is at once seen that a separate 
temple, distinct from the City itself, would mar the 
picture, and misrepresent its meaning. For, in medi- 
tating upon this symbol of the City, we must not lose 
sight of the truth that what this City represents is also 
“the Bride, the Lamb’s wife’’. 

As there is no place in this City for a temple, neither 
is there any need in it for the sun, the light of nature: 
for the glory of God illumines it, and the Lamb, Who 
is the Bridegroom and the Redeemer, is the Light 
thereof. For He is “the True Light” (John 1:9). 


“And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the 
light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and 
honour into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by 
day: for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring 
the glory and honour of the nations into it. And there shall 
in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatso- 
ever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are 


written in the Lamb’s book of life” (vv. 24-27). 


( 


540 The Patmos Visions 








In the consideration of these last visions there is 
special need to remember that what is shown in them 
must be taken figuratively, else we would be at a loss as 
to the “‘nations’’, and ‘‘the kings of the earth” who are 
mentioned in this passage. ‘This is an entirely new 
‘earth. Moreover, none but the redeemed from among 
men now remain of the children of Adam. For all 
who were not found written in the book of life were 
cast into the lake of fire. Verse 27 of this very chapter 
also declares that none enter into the City but “they 
which are written in the Lamb’s book of life’. 


“The nations are not to be conceived of as without the city, 
but within; and being within the city they shall be illuminated 
by its light. The situations of the several parties here are 
altogether of an absolute kind. All are either in the New 
Jerusalem or in the lake of fire (v. 8). There is no third posi- 
tion. The bringing belongs only to the symbolic style of the 
delineation. Again in 22:14 mention is made of all true citi- 
zens as entering in through the gates into the city” (Hengsten- 
berg). 


This being understood, we need only to remember, 
for the comprehension of the thought of this passage, 
that even as among the angels there are distinctions of 
rank and authority, so it will be among glorified men. 
To some Christ will give authority over ten cities, to 
some over five (Luke 19:17, 19) . All will partake of 
the same glory, but as “‘star differeth from star in glory, 
so also is the resurrection of the dead” (1 Cor. 15:41, 


42). | 





The New Heaven and New Earth 541 


“And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as 
crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. 
In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, 
was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits 
and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree 
were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more 
curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; 
and His servants shall serve Him: and they shall see His face; 
and His name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be 
no night there: and they need no candle, neither light of the 
sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign 
for ever and ever” (21:1-5). 


The prominent theme of this last chapter of the 
Bible is LIFE. All that is contrary to God, all that 
developed in consequence of the coming of sin into the 
world, ends in the second death. All that is saved 
from the dominion of sin and death enters into the full- 
ness of the abundant life of the newcreation. The con- 
trast is most impressive. Life is here presented in a 
threefold way; for we read of the book of life, the 
water of life, and the tree of life; and each is men- 
tioned twice, the book in 21:27 and 22:19, the water 
22:1 and 17, and the tree in 22:2 and 14. The order 
of these six occurrences forms an introversion; the 
order being the book, the water, the tree, the tree, the 
water, the book. ‘The Trinity is suggested; for the 
book is expressly that of the Lamb, the water is an 
acknowledged emblem of the Holy Spirit (John 7:38, 
39), and the tree is associated with the original crea- 
tion of God “Who created all things by Jesus Christ” 
(Eph. 3:9). The book contains the names of all the 


redeemed; the water is a river; and the tree bears 


AOE SENET 8 EAA RET AAS AES TEES REAR TOT SEPSIS T ESOT FESTA TIE AS SEO SS TTR 


542 The Patmos Visions 


twelve manner of fruits, and yields her fruit every 
month. All these figures speak of that abundant life, 
of which Christ Himself spake, and which He came to 
bring into the very place where death had reigned over 
all (John 10:10). All the Old Testament promises 
and types, which relate to fountains and rivers, have 
here their complete and glorious fulfilment (Ps. 36:8; 
Joel 3:18; Ezek. 47:1-12; Zech. 14:8). In Genesis 
II and in Ezekiel XLVII the tree and the river are in 
close association with each other. The river in Revela- 
tion 22:1 proceeds from the highest and holiest place 
in the universe, the throne of God and of the Lamb. 
That Christ is here mentioned as the Lamb, empha- 
sizes the truth that the river of life is made available 
to the redeeemed by reason of His sacrifice of Himself 
on their behalf. ‘This verse also pictures the truth of 
the Trinity; for God and Christ are named, and the 
Spirit appears under the emblem of the water. 

The water figures that which quenches the thirst, 
that is to say, satisfies the desires, of the redeemed. 
What the river does under the type of water for the 
thirsty, the tree does under the type of food for the 
hungry (v. 2). The one flows perennially, and the 
other bears perennially. The order in which these 
blessings of the Eternal City are presented in these 
three successive verses (21:28; 22:1, 2) is this: Those 
whose names are written in the book of life, have ac- 
cess to the water of life, and also to the tree of life. 
Moreover, it is said that the leaves of the tree are for 
the healing of the nations. But as to the form in which 


The New Heaven and New Earth 543 


the blessings thus figured will be actually enjoyed in the 
eternal state, we can now form no idea. 

The words, ‘‘and there shall be no more curse’”’ (v. 
3) also take us back to Eden, where the curse was 
brought in by the eating of the forbidden tree. That 
can never be again; for the throne of God and of the 
Lamb shall be (i. e. permanently) in it; and His ser- 
vants shall serve Him; they shall never be brought 
unto bondage to another. Moreover, ‘‘they shall see 
His Face’’; and to see the King’s face is to enjoy His 
favor (2 Sa. 14:24, 32). Not only so, but “His Name 
shall be in their foreheads”, which is equivalent to say- 
ing that they are sealed and openly acknowledged as 
His (14:1). And now once more it is stated that 
‘there shall be no night there, and they need no candle, 
neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them 
light” (v. 5). The like statements of the preceding 
chapter (vv. 23, 25) were made in describing the 
glories of the City; whereas here they appear as part 
of a description of the blessedness of its inhabitants. 
That there will be no night there, signifies in this con- 
nection that God will never withdraw His favor from 
them. They will stand forevermore in the light of 
His countenance. And not only so, but the crowning 
blessing of all, “they shall reign for ever and ever’. 

Thus ends the transcendently wonderful description 
of the holy Jerusalem, the Bride, the Lamb’s wife. 
May some gleams of her divinely-bestowed glories and 
beauties penetrate into our hearts, and serve to turn 
all our thoughts and affections from things on earth to 








544 The Patmos Visions 





things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the 
right hand of God! 

Bengel’s comment forms an appropriate ending for 
this portion of the Book :— 


“Thus far the holy city Jerusalem! Would that we may 
enter therein! Would that we were even now therein! Now 
it is in our power to attain to a happy portion there, if we but 
turn our back on a lost world, and renounce the service of its 
prince. “There is need for a good, instant resolution to act, 
under the impulse of grace. But whosoever hath steadfastly 
set his face to go toward this Jerusalem, shall abide in it and 
shall never err from the way of life’. 


“And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: 
and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to shew 
unto His servants the things which must shortly be done. Be- 
hold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of 
the prophecy of this book. And I John saw these things, and 
heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to 
worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these 
things. Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am 
thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of 
them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God. And 
he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this 
book: for the time is at hand. He that is unjust, let him be 
unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be, filthy still: and 
he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is 
holy, let him be holy still. And behold, I come quickly; and 
My reward is with me, to give every man according as his work 
shall be. J am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, 
the first and the last” (vv. 6-13). 


Attention has been called, in the comments on Chap- 
ter I, to the correspondence between the beginning of 
the Book of Revelation and its ending. Therefore a 
detailed comment upon the remaining verses would be 





The New Heaven and New Earth 545 


largely a repetition of what has been already pointed 
out, for which reason my observations on these verses 
will be brief. What should be principally impressed 
upon our minds is the stress that is here laid upon 
the high importance of the things that are written in 
this Book. And.the greater is the need that we should 
seek to do this, because by the many it has been 
treated with neglect, and by not a few even its authen- 
ticity has been called into question. How very 
significant then that, immediately the description of the 
Holy City is finished, the angel repeats once more the 
assurance that, ‘“These sayings are faithful and true’. 
The form in which this assurance is given here and in 
21:5 differs from that used in 19:9. There we read, ~ 
‘‘And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of 
God’’. In these last chapters we have a form of assur- 
ance used elsewhere only by Paul in his letters to Tim- 
othy and Titus, who, like those to whom John’s mes- 
sage is specially sent, were the servants of God. It is 
first used in connection with Paul’s great gospel testi- 
mony, ‘This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all 
acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to 
save sinners’ (1 Tim. 1:15). Therefore the very 
form in which this assurance is given lifts the matters 
embraced in it to the level of highest importance. In 
19:9 the assurance had reference specially to the de- 
struction of Babylon the great, and the marriage of the 
Lamb. In 21:5 it has reference to the creation of the 
new heaven and new earth, and the coming down from 
heaven of the Holy City, the new Jerusalem. And in 


546 The Patmos Visions 


22:6 it has reference to the blessings promised to the 
inhabitants of that City. 

The latter part of verse 6 is virtually a repetition of 
what was declared in Chapter 1:1, that God had sent © 
His angel with this express object, namely, to show to 
His servants things which must shortly be done. More- 
over, the word “shortly” is immediately reiterated in 
verse 7 (there rendered quickly), the saying of that 
verse being evidently uttered by the Lord Jesus Christ 
Himself. It contains also a repetition of the blessing 
promised in Chapter 1:3 to those who keep the sayings 
of the prophecy of this Book. 

Then John adds again his personal assurance that he 
saw these things and heard them, an affirmation that 
should carry great weight and impart strong conviction 
by reason of its very simplicity. Moreover, again he 
was so overpowered by the wonder and the greatness 
of the things which he had seen and heard, that he fell 
down to do homage before the angel who had showed 
them to him. No further comment upon this incident 
is needed. | 

Further testimony to the great importance of the 
Book is given in verses 10-12. John is not to seal the 
sayings of the prophecy of this Book, for the time (of 
the things threatened as well as of the things promised) 
iscome near. Its message, therefore, is one of urgency 
for all. The unrighteous and the unclean, if they 
neglect its warnings and flee not to the Lamb of God 
for safety, will just as surely experience the judgments 
it foretells, as the righteous and the holy will enter 





ae New Heaven wen New Earth 547 


into its promised blessings. For Christ is coming 
quickly to give to every man, those in the one class 
and those in the other, according as his work shall be. 
This is spoken by Him who here again declares Him- 
self to be “the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and 
the end, the first and the last’’. 

“Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may 


have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the 
gates into the city” (v. 14). 


This is the last beatitude of the Bible; and surely 
it is the all-inclusive one; for there can be no real happi- 
ness apart from the doing of God’s commandments, 
and it is ever in the doing of them that the very high- 
est blessedness is enjoyed. This beatitude in this place 
it not so much an encouragement or inducement to men 
to enter and to continue in the path of obedience 
(which is the ‘‘narrow way’ that one enters by the 
“strait gate’ of the new birth), as a description of the 
actual state of the redeemed throughout eternity, 
whose delight will ever be in the doing of His com- 
mandments. Nevertheless, the promise of this verse 
and the warning of the next, are there for any who 
will give heed thereto. 

This, the last, beatitude of the Bible also brings 
forcibly to mind that the curse, with all its attendant 
miseries, was brought upon the world through dis- 
obedience to His commandment. 

In contrast with those who are within, and who de- 
light in the doing of the will of God, verse 15 names 
those who are “without”. The completeness of this 








548 The Patmos Visions 





list is testified by the fact that it consists of seven 
classes of persons. It is headed by “dogs”, which in 
Scripture are representative of the entire class of un- 
clean animals, and hence typify those whose hearts 
have not been changed by grace, and have not been 
cleansed by the blood of Christ, through faith in 
Him (Deut. 23:18; Mat. 15:26; 2 Pet. 2:22). Such 
are they of whom the people of God are cautioned to 
‘beware’! (Phil. 3:2). 


“I Jesus have sent Mine angel to testify unto you these things 
in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and 
the bright and morning star. And the Spirit and the bride say, 
Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that 
is athirst come: and whosoever will, let him take the water of 
life freely. For I testify unto every man that heareth the words 
of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these 
things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in 
this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the 
book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the 
book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which 
are written in this book. He which testifieth these things saith, 
Surely I come quickly; Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. 
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, Amen” 
(vv. 16-21). 


The “I Jesus” stands in contrast with the “I John’”’ 
of verse 8. ‘The great things of this Book, its great 
prophecies, great promises, great judgments, rest not 
for their acceptance upon the word of a mere man, 
though he be the best and most truthful of men. For 
now again at the very end we have the word of ‘‘the 
faithful and true Witness” for every one of “these 
things”. In this verse He steps forward, as it were, 





The New Heaven and New Earth 549 


and with his ‘I Jesus” answers every denial, doubt or 
questioning in regard to these things and all of them. 
This affirmation He backs up with a surpassingly won- 
derful revelation of Himself: “I AM the root and the 
offspring of David, the bright and morning Star’. 
Here is the last of His I AM’S. It sends us back to the 
word of prophecy: 


“And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, 
and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the Spirit of the 
Lord shall be upon Him. . . . And in that ‘day there shall be 
a root of Jesse which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to - 
it shall the Gentiles seek; and His rest shall be glory’’ (Isa. 
Lilie alo mara): 


All the purposes of God concerning His everlasting 
Kingdom, concerning the salvation of the Gentiles, and 
concerning the glory of His eternal rest, depended 
upon that Root of David. When the matter of open- 
ing the seven-sealed book was standing in doubt in 
John’s mind, causing him acute distress, he was re- 
lieved from his anxiety by the assurance that the Lion 
of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, had prevailed 
to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof 
(5:5). It is the tremendous weight of His authority 
that is here given to establish the authenticity of this 
Book. ‘The race of David is here brought into view 
in respect to the unconquerable strength and everlast- 
ing dominion promised it by God. What He testifies, 
in Whom the race of David culminates, will assuredly 
go into fulfilment” (Hengstenberg). 


RE 


550 The Patmos Visions 


The added designation ‘‘the bright and morning 
star’, from the connection, is a call to watchfulness 
throughout the night. The first thing that rewards 
them ‘‘that watch for the morning” (Ps. 130:6), is 
the appearance of the morning star. Speaking of the 
word of prophecy, made “more sure’’ by the first com- 
ing of Christ, Peter admonishes us to take heed thereto, 
as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the 
day dawn, and the day star arise in our hearts (2 Pet. 
1:19). And Christ here declares that He Himself 
will appear as the bright and morning star to those 
who, believing His testimony concerning the things 
that are written in this Book, set their hearts to look 
for His coming. ‘The effect of futurism has been to 
obscure the light of the word of prophecy; but when 
we remove the lampshade, by putting aside these mod- 
ern theories, we find that the light thereof shines as 
brightly as ever; yea, and more so. Thus we may have 
as our Lord surely intended, both the external light of 
prophecy upon the whole course of time, and also the 
inner light of the Morning Star shining in our hearts. 
‘And I will give him the Morning Star. He that hath 
an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the 
churches’’. 

To the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ, saying, ‘‘I 
Jesus have sent Mine angel to testify unto you these 
things in the churches”, is now added that of “the 
Spirit and the bride” (v.17). Their message is com- 
pressed into the single word, ‘‘Come’”’. To whom is it 
addressed? ‘The joining together of the Spirit and 





The New Heaven and New Earth 551 


the bride is a new thing in this Book; but it is not a 
new thing in the Scripture. John the Baptist saw “the 
bride”’ in those who were turning to Jesus Christ in his 
day. Paul applies this figure to believers both collec- 
tively (Rom. 7:4) and also individually (2 Cor. 11:2). 
So the Spirit and the bride are united in their testi- 
mony. “He (the Holy Spirit) shall testify of Me; 
and ye also shall bear witness’ (John 15:26, 27). 
“Ye shall receive power, the Holy Ghost coming upon 
you; and ye shall be witnesses unto Me” (Ac. 1:8). 
“And we,” said Peter, ‘‘are His witnesses of these 
things; and so is also the Holy Ghost” (Ac. 5:32). 
This recalls to our minds at the very end of the Book 
what was emphasized at the beginning thereof, namely, 
that the churches are appointed to be light-bearers; 
that they are to “‘shine as lights in the world, holding 
forth the word of life’. And this zs the word of life, 
as this very verse declares under the familiar symbol 
of ‘the water of life’. The Lord Jesus has just said 
that He had sent His angel to testify these things 
unto us in the churches. Hence it becomes the respon- 
sibility of the churches to testify these things to others. 
But the Holy Spirit is with them to share that great 
responsibility. By this present testimony of Christ to 
His churches, the Word of life is completed, and His 
witnesses are thereby fully equipped for their calling, 
“thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Tim. 
3:16, 17). And this is most impressively declared in 
verses 18, 19, where the voice of Christ is heard again. 
The connecting word “‘For’’ shows that, in the words 


Ce TSS ES GEE 2S EET SESE ESSE SETS SE DEES SATE PV PRTE PASE COE 
552 The Patmos Visions 


which follow, the reason is given why the churches are 
to say “Come’. ‘The fearful punishments that will 
fall upon those who add to these things (which Christ 
has now testified to His churches), or who take from 
them, declare in the most forceful way the supreme 
importance of “‘these things’; and they serve also to 
impress upon His witnesses the greatness of the re- 
sponsibility that rests upon them in respect thereto. 

A little reflection will suffice to make evident that 
these closing words refer to the present use of the 
Book, and not to future times. It is now that the 
Spirit and the bride say ‘‘Come’’; it is now that he | 
that heareth is to say, ‘“‘Come’’; it is now that he that 
is athirst may come and take of the water of life. And 
again it is only now, in this present age, that any can 
commit the sin of adding to or taking from the things 
that are written in this Book. The warning at the 
end should be placed alongside of the blessing promised 
at the beginning, to him that readeth, and to them that 
hear and that keep the things that are written herein; 
and the result must be a deep conviction in our hearts 
that “these things” are indeed of supreme importance 
at this very time. For the establishing of that convic- 
tion in us, our Lord gives the weight of a threefold 
testimony: “I Jesus have sent Mine angel to testify” 
(v. 16); “For I testify unto every man” (v. 18) ; “He 
which testifieth these things” (vy. 20). 

Another word that is prominent in this closing por- 
tion is ‘‘come’”’. We have noted its threefold occur- 
rence in verse 17. Then we have the very last word of 





The New Heaven and New Earth 552 


our blessed Lord to His own, “Surely I come quickly”. 
Finally we are permitted to use His own word, ad- 
dressing it to Him, as our reply to all this; and may it 
be the expression of the supreme desire of every heart 
as we say, “Even so, Come, Lord Jesus’; for it is to 
that end He has done these things, and testified these 
things. 

“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you 
all. Amen’. 


CHAPTER XIV 


Conclusion—Where We Now Stand 


HERE do we now stand in the stream of pre- 

dicted events? is a question that comes often 

to one’s mind as he looks into the word of 
prophecy. For the answer I turn to Chapter XI; for 
there, in the days immediately preceding the sounding 
of the seventh trumpet, I find what seems to me to be 
the description of the work which the Spirit of God is 
now doing in the world. That work is presented to 
us under the figures of (1) the measuring of the temple 
of God; and (2) the testifying of God’s two witnesses, 
clothed in sackcloth. The measuring of the temple of 
God signifies, as has been shown, the completion of the 
work of calling out a people for the Name of the Lord; 
and the testifying of the two witnesses means the com- 
pletion of the work begun on the day of Pentecost by 
the disciples of Christ, to whom He had just previously 
said, “Ye shall receive power ... and ye shall be wit- 
nesses unto Me’’. And here we have the prophecy, 
“And I will give power unto My two witnesses’. Their 
testimony is to be “finished” (11:7). And thus 
Christ’s word to His disciples will be fulfilled: ‘““This 
gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the 
world for a witness unto all nations: and then shall the 
end come’ (Mat. 24:14). His witnesses have no 
other testimony to give to the nations of the world 


554 





~— Gonclusion—W here We Now Stand 5&5 


than the gospel of the kingdom, for that embraces “‘all 
the counsel of God” (Ac. 20:25, 27; 28:31); and 
when that testimony shall have been given to “‘all the 
world’, then shall ‘‘the end’ come. 

And this is the way the end will come: The beast 
that ascended out of the bottomless pit “shall make 
war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill 
them’. The two witnesses are a symbol, representing 
the testimony itself. So it is not the putting to death 
of the Lord’s people that is here foreshown, but the 
suppression of their testimony by governmental au- 
thority. We are even now under beast-government 
(Gentile world-power) and who can say how soon a 
situation may arise such that “the powers that be” 
may deem it “necessary to the welfare of the state’ to 
suppress the testimony of the Kingdom of God, and 
the circulation of the Scriptures which declare the cer- 
tainty of the overthrow of the kingdom of the beast? 
Whenever that occurs, there will be a brief season of 
rejoicing (three days and a half) by those to whom 
the Word of God was a “‘torment’’; then, a sudden re- 
viving of the testimony, and the catching up of the wit- 
nesses into heaven in a cloud (11:7-12). ‘This rapture 
of the witnesses is coincident with the sounding of the 
seventh trumpet (v. 15), when “the days” begin which 
the voice of that trumpet ushers in (10:7). That is 
the beginning of the day of wrath, during which there 
will be no testimony for God in the world, and the 
powers of evil will have it all their own way. Let us 
just observe once more, that we have here the three 





556 The Patmos Visions 


prominent things of 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17, the 
great voice from heaven (‘the voice of the arch- 
angel’’), the trump of God, and the catching up of the 
witnesses to heaven ‘“‘in a cloud”’. 

After that event, the course of affairs on earth con- 
tinues. Developments in the several departments of 
human affairs will be such as to eventuate in that state 
of things which has been pictured to us in the vision of 
the gorgeously arrayed woman (apostate christianity, 
or organized religion in its ultimate form), who sits 
upon the ten horned beast. 

Therefore the field of observation that now lies be- 
fore us, is in two great spheres, radically opposed the 
one to the other: (1) the Kingdom of God, and (2) 
the kingdom of Satan (Mat. 12:25-29). We look 
first at— 


THE KINGDOM oF Gop 


Measured by its effects upon human society as a 
whole, as well as upon individual nations and communi- 
ties, the greatest event of history subsequent to the re- 
surrection of Jesus Christ and the coming of the Holy 
Spirit into the world, is the Protestant Reformation, 
at the beginning of the sixteenth century. From that 
event sprang two divergent movements which were to 
bring about the heading up of all human affairs, one 
eventuating in mystical Babylon, the “mother of har- 
lots and abominations of the earth’, and the other in 
the heavenly Jerusalem, “which is the mother of us all” 
(Gal. 4:26). The first of the spiritual movements that 





— Gonclusion—Where We Now Stand 557 


then arose is expending its energy in accomplishing 
that one thing for which the return of Christ must 
wait, namely the publishing of the glad tidings of His 
Kingdom among all nations for a witness. ‘The other 
is leading on to the final stage of the kingdom of Satan, 
that of the seventh head of the beast, with which will 
be closely allied “the kings of the earth’ (ten king- 
doms) and the consolidated world-religion, and world- 
federation of business, symbolized respectively by 
Babylon the woman, and Babylon the great city. The 
final issue is between the two rival kingdoms. And we 
know how it will end; for “the kingdoms of this world 
shall become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His 
Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever” (11:15). 
The two movements here referred to, answer respec- 
tively to the measuring of the temple of God, and the 
casting out of the court of the Gentiles. 

In the sphere we are now viewing (that of the King- 
dom of God) what most impresses me is that of all 
that has resulted from the Reformation of four hun- 
dred years ago, by far the greatest thing in its influence 
upon human affairs has been the translation of the 
Bible into the languages now spoken on earth. It 
would seem as if the Reformation had been ordained 
for that very purpose, and that all other results that 
have flowed from it were incidental and subsidiary. 
That was a thing so immensely great that whatever 
other event may be thought of as an epoch in history, 
is dwarfed into insignificance in comparison with it. 
For the Bible, in “tongues understanded of the peo- 





5S The Patmos Visions 


ple’, is God’s instrument for the completing of His 
Church (the measuring of the temple of God) through 
the broadcasting of the saving truth of the gospel of 
Christ. This, be it noted, is precisely what was begun 
on the day of Pentecost. For the outstanding feature 
thereof was the hearing, by those of the many nations 
that were represented there, every man in his own na- 
tive tongue, the wonderful works of God, that is to 
say, the raising up of Jesus Christ from the dead, and 
the sending forth of the Holy Spirit to bear witness 
thereto. ‘Therefore it is of the utmost significance 
that the work begun on the day of Pentecost, accom- 
panied by mighty signs and wonders, a work which was 
interrupted for more than a thousand years (the dark 
ages), was resumed, four hundred years ago, amidst 
world-shaking events, and has been prosecuted unin- 
terruptedly ever since. And what increases greatly the 
significance of this fact is that, even in the present time 
of spiritual decline, the work of circulating the Scrip- 
tures in the languages and dialects of the day, instead 
of slackening, as might be expected, is advancing at an 
accelerating speed. As an illustration of this, let me 
mention that about 18 years ago I was shown, in a 
Bible distributing agency in Switzerland, a little book 
containing John 3:16 in about 400 different tongues. 
This little book had been compiled in order to exhibit 
the wide extent of the publication of the Scriptures in 
the common languages of the nations; and it impressed 
me greatly. But the expansion since that date has been 
at a rate far more rapid than in the years prior thereto. 





—— Gonclusion—Where We Now Stand 559 


For today, the Bible (or essential parts thereof) is 
giving forth its soul-saving message in about 800 
tongues and dialects. Within a month of the day on 
which I am writing these lines, my attention was called 
to the fact that the translation of the Bible into 
Annamese had just been completed, thereby bringing 
its vital truth within the reach of another group of 
peoples, numbering about sixteen millions, who hereto- 
fore have not had the written word in their own 
tongues. Thus the work begun at Pentecost is spread- 
ing at an amazing rate in our day, insomuch that the 
reaching of the remotest confines of the inhabited 
earth is now a matter of but a very brief time. Indeed, 
when we consider the number of missionary societies 
and other agencies that are prosecuting this work in- 
dependently of each other, we are warranted in say- 
ing that “the end’ whereof our Lord spake (Mat. 
24:14) may “come” any day. Rightly viewed, this 
work is the combination and enlargement of the great 
miracle of Pentecost, which consisted in this, that the 
truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 
and of the coming of the Holy Ghost from heaven, 
and the significance of that truth for all mankind, even 
to those that were ‘‘afar off” (Ac. 2:39), was pro- 
claimed in the languages of the heathen world. 

This work—the finishing of the miracle of Pente- 
cost—is a thing that is little noticed, because it does 
not lie upon the surface of affairs; and notwithstand- 
ing that the great issue of the kingdom of this world 
depends mainly upon it, even the people of God give 





560 The Patmos Visions 


but slight attention to it. Therefore I lay the more 
stress upon it. 


THE KINGDOM OF SATAN 


Turning now to the other sphere, and viewing the 
mighty forces that are operating, and the movements 
now going on, in the three great departments of human 
society, it seems that here also the most notable phe- 
nomenon of the present hour is the amazing celerity at 
which everything connected with the life of individuals 
and of nations is rushing ahead. Nobody knows where 
he is going; but all are in a tremendous hurry to get 
there. And the speed is not only great, but it is accel- 
erating. In fact, among the social phenomena of the 
day, acceleration is the most distinctive feature; and 
this has been specially noticeable since the era of the 
world-war of 1914-18. That cataclysm seems to have 
infused diabolical energies into all the agencies and in- 
strumentalities of evil. The straining after higher 
speed in autos and airplanes is but a sign of what is 
taking place in all departments of life. Everybody and 
everything is rushing ahead at breathless speed. The 
whole world is now acting as if it were aware that, like 
its prince, it “hath but a short time’. 

This field of observation is so broad, the actors and 
factors therein are so numerous, and the movements 
are so complex, that no one could possibly comprehend 
in detail a thousandth part of what is going on. Yet 
it is quite possible to discern the main drift of things, 
and to determine the direction and probable outcome 





Conclusion—W here We Now Stand 561 


of the more important of the movements that are now 
in progress. To a few of these I will briefly refer, 
taking the three great departments of human affairs 
in this order: 1. Things Industrial; 2. Things Relig- 
ious; 3. Things Political. 


1. THiIncs INDUSTRIAL 


In the great field of business (industry and com- 
merce) the two-fold tendency towards expansion and 
consolidation continues with unabated energy. There 
has been a marked change of late in, the policy of the 
government towards “‘trusts’’ and “combines”. In- 
stead of strong opposition, there is now benevolent 
approbation. ‘The consolidation of railroads and of 
other business enterprises is now favored, instead of 
being resisted. The principal governments of the 
world themselves went into business, and on a very 
large scale, during the great war; and that seems to 
have made a marvellous difference. It has served to 
bring business and politics quite close together. Fur- 
thermore, business is taking on more and more an in- 
ternational character. The growing importance of oil 
as a source of power for transportation purposes, and 
for military and naval uses in particular, has had much 
to do with this; for but few of the leading nations have 
within their own borders sufficient supplies of that in- 
dispensable commodity for even current uses. Espe- 
cially is Finance assuming a thoroughly cosmopolitan 
character. ‘‘International Finance” is now an estab- 
lished institution. The supremacy of Mammon, and 





562 | | The Patmos Visions 


the universality of its empire, are clearly recognized. 
And so the building up of Babylon, that great city, 
keeps pace with the building up of the temple of God; 
each in its own sphere, and upon its “‘own base”. ‘The 
development of things in this line will continue until 
the end of the days of the voice of the seventh angel. 
It is not necessary therefore that there should be any 
striking developments in this department of human 
affairs before those days begin. 


2. Tuincs RELIGIOUS 


In this field there is intense activity. The move- 
ments are many and various; but they have a common 
trend and converge to a common point. Rome con- 
tinues unswervingly in the pursuit of her single aim, to 
sit in the seat of supreme authority over the nations— 
in other words, to ride upon the great beast. That her 
political influence is increasing is apparent to all. For 
proof, it is sufficient to point to the fact that, for the 
first time since the Reformation, England has entered 
into diplomatic relations with the Vatican; and that 
the attitude of Italy and of France towards the claims 
of the papacy has undergone a marked change, in the 
direction of amity and concord, within a few years. 
In order to the fulfilment of prophecy it is not neces- 
sary that any alteration should take place in either the 
policy or the organization of that ancient system of 
deception and error. But the visions we have been 
studying would lead us to expect the combining of all 
the religious elements of christendom that are hostile 





| Conclusion—Where We Now Stand 563 


to the faith of Jesus Christ; and this is going on at a 
rapid rate among various Protestant bodies, notwith- 
standing the collapse of the famous ‘“Inter-Church 
Movement” of a few years ago. This too, I think, is 
the tendency of the present-day movements classed as 
liberalistic or modernistic. ‘The basic principle of all 
these, no matter how diverse their form, is Humanism, 
the exaltation of man to the place of God; whereof the 
cardinal doctrine is the inherent nobility and goodness 
of man, his progressiveness, and his sufficiency, by 
means of his own efforts and devices; to save himself 
and regenerate the world. 

The notion of ‘evolution’, which has such a prom- 
inent place just now in public discussions, has ceased to 
be a scientific theory, and has become strictly a relig- 
ious dogma. ‘That is why men are ready to fight for it. 
No one ever gets hot over a question of scientific truth. 
Even those classed as “‘scientists” (who are not differ- 
ent from other men) when they profess faith in evo- 
lution, and contend for it, do so not as scientists, but 
as religionists. Evolution therefore is not irreligious. 
On the contrary, it is essentially and intensely religious. 
It is the basic doctrine of the religion of Humanism; 
the design of its author being thereby to displace God 
the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, and to en- 
throne Man as the supreme being in nature, who is 
accountable to no one for his conduct 

At the present moment Romanism and Modernism 
are to all appearances, directly opposed to each other. 
But while the former is stable, the latter is in a state 


Sse er mS 0 0 DEAE UN STRESS RL ST 5 OS FSET SES TP TEI TE OPE OR RE EE NEES SEES GERSTNER AES 
564 The Patmos Visions 


of flux; so that the now existing differences may be 
readily composed. Rome cares little what men be- 
lieve, provided only they conform outwardly to the 
system and acknowledge the authority of the hierarchy. 
In my unconverted days I was told on good authority 
that I could become a member of the ‘‘Church”’ with- 
out discarding or modifying my pantheistic and evo- 
lutionary beliefs. The essential matter is that the 
basic principle of Humanism, that is to say, the salva- 
tion of man by his own works, is common to both, and 
is the central doctrine of both. Therefore, it needs 
only the continued working of the same forces, in the 
same general direction, to bring about the unification 
of all the apostate systems of christendom; for the 
thought of ‘‘one Church’, ‘‘one Brotherhood”, is more 
and more taking hold of the imaginations of men. 
Moreover, that consummation may be, and very likely 
will be, precipitated by some crisis or convulsion of 
such a sort as, in the present state of human affairs 
might happen any day. 

Therefore, just as we are able to foresee the full 
development of “Babylon, that great city”, as an event 
of the near future, even so can we also foresee the 
early manifestation of that mother of harlots and 
abominations of the earth, “Mystery Babylon the 
great’. 


3. Tuincs PoLiricaL 


Here is where the energies in operation are the 
greatest, the movements the swiftest, and the signs the 


ne eR ONE SON ES I A NRTA SC RE SAE TREN MN AEN TN ST TTT 


Concluston—W here We Now Stand 565 


clearest. There is no need of unusual discernment or 
of close observation to make one aware of the real 
state and drift of things in the field of world-politics. 
For those who are thoroughly conversant with the 
affairs of the nations, and who take leading parts 
therein, are themselves proclaiming, loudly and unceas- 
ingly, the near approach of a catastrophe which, they 
tell us, will be of world-wide extent and of unparalleled 
magnitude; a catastrophe of such sort and such scope 
as (if sufficient measures be not taken seasonably to 
avert it) will plunge the whole of human society, the 
whole of christian civilization, and of mankind itself, 
into utter and irretrievable ruin. 

Such being the prospect that immediately confronts 
the world, what measures will the leaders of the world 
adopt in order to avert it? what measures can be de- 
vised that would avail to save the world from its im- 
pending fate? Compacts among the nations are but 
ropes of sand, mere “‘scraps of paper’’; and no one 
understands this better than the political leaders them- 
selves. What then? Human wisdom and statescrift 
can suggest but one expedient, in this desperate situa- 
tion, a Super-state. Nothing else is in view. And in- 
deed the nations that live most in dread of another 
war have already committed themselves definitely to 
that plan. Yor the “League of Nations” is no longer 
an experiment, but an established institution. Let us 
then open our eyes wide to the startling fact that the 
final embodiment of world government has already 
appeared upon the scene. ‘Thus the prophecies of the 





566 The Patmos Visions 


end are being fulfilled in a most unmistakable way 
before our eyes at this very moment. 

One thing we often hear by way of dissatisfaction 
with the League as it now exists, is that it lacks ‘‘teeth”’ ; 
that is to say, it is without means to enforce its de- 
crees, and to deal punitively with the nations who 
would resist them. But teeth belong to maturity, and 
the League is yet in its infancy. Measures are being 
taken to supply this deficiency, and they will be effec- 
tual; for Daniel, in beholding this beast, was specially 
impressed by the fact that “it had great iron teeth’ 
(Dan. 7:7). That the lack of “teeth” will be met, is 
further indicated by that part of the prophecy which 
shows that men will come to regard the beast as in- 
vincible, saying, “‘Who is like unto the beast? Who 
can make war with him?” (Rey. 13:4). So let us 
realize that the framework of the super-governmental 
system of John’s visions already exists; and that a com- 
pelling motive for investing it with supreme authority 
and with irresistible military power also exists in the 
recognition, on the part of all the statesmen of Europe, 
of the absolute necessity of maintaining ‘‘world-peace”’, 
the alternative being utter ruin. 

Such is the political situation as it actually exists at 
the present moment; and inasmuch as we are now con- 
sidering nothing that is in the least speculative, noth- 
ing but what is recognized as the plainest of plain 
facts by all who are acquainted with that situation, I 
would urge every reader to make whatever mental 
effort may be necessary in order to the comprehension 





Conclusion uhere We Now Stand 567 


of it. What follows will, I hope, be found helpful to 
that end. 
THE INEVITABLENESS OF THE PREDICTED OUTCOME 


One thing that forcibly impresses me as I reflect 
upon the present political situation, and the current 
political development, is the inevitablesness of the out- 
come. Usually when a danger is clearly foreseen it 
can be averted by the concerting of timely and effective 
measures of prevention. But here is a frightful danger 
looming up, and rapidly approaching, of such a pecul- 
iar character that the only conceivable measures for 
preventing it do but make it the more certain to hap- 
pen, and the more ruinous when it does happen. This 
is the apotheosis of paradoxes; but however paradoxi- 
cal, it is true. For in view of the threat of another 
war, which will be waged with new and truly diabolical 
appliances, the nations are under the strongest compul- 
sion to “preparedness”; and yet, as Lord Gray and 
other authorities have pointed out again and again, 
it was the principle of “preparedness” that brought on 
the last world-war, and gave it its character of un- 
paralleled destructiveness; and as the authorities have 
also pointed out, it is the same principle, and the devo- 
tion of the nations thereto, that makes the next war 
a moral certainty, and insures to it such a potency for 
barbarity, destruction and ruin, as nothing human and 
mortal could possibly survive. Therefore, we have 
here a situation such, that the more earnestly and thor- 
oughly the various nations prosecute the only conceiv- 
able plan of warding off the threatened catastrophe, 








568 The Patmos Visions 


the more certain do they thereby make the happening 
of that catastrophe, and the more horrible its conse- 
quences. 

Let me give a concrete illustration of this important 
point. Among the developments and achievements of 
our times there is nothing that is viewed with greater 
admiration, or upon which the modern man more often 
prides himself, than the progress of aviation. And 
truly it is a marvel. What a commentary then upon 
human nature! what a revelation have we of what 
human nature really is, in the fact that the greater and 
more marvellous the achievements of man, the more 
he has to fear from them! Speaking on the subject of 
the frightful menace of the airplane, in connection with 
other recent developments in methods and appliances 
of destruction, a prominent English journal remarks: 


“It has been noticed for a long time that we moderns have 
immensely increased the physical applicances at our command, 
and especially our means of hurting one another, without any 
corresponding improvement in our characters. And now an 
ironical fate would seem to have put a climax to this kind of 
evolution by giving nations an unthought-of freedom to murder 
other nations, and taking away from them most of their former 
power to keep murderers at a distance from themselves”. 


England is the most influential of the nations that 
are directly involved in world-politics; and England 
more than any other has reason to fear, and does fear, 
this new ‘‘terror of the air’. Heretofore the command 
of the seas was all that was needed to protect Great 
Britain, in her insular position, from the attacks of her 





Concluston—Where We Now Stand 569 


enemies, and to keep open the lines of communication 
with her colonies, upon which she depends for food- 
supplies. But a new situation has arisen; for pros- 
pective enemies have now at their disposal weapons 
which could make the centers of population and indus- 
try of the entire country a desolation and a series of 
charnel-houses in the course of a few days, and against 
which no means of defense exists, or can be imagined. 
The Chief of the British Air Staff, Sir Hugh Trench- 
ard, has lately called public attention to 


“The terrible extent to which the means of air attack have 
outdistanced the means of air defence since combatant flying 
began”. He believes that “more bombs could now be dropped 
on London in one day than were dropped upon it in the four 
years of the great war. They would, too, be bombs of a far 
more lethal and generally destructive character”. And he also 
believes that “however strong we may be in the air, we could 
not prevent this visitation’’. 


What then must be the plan of action of a nation so 
situated, in the event of an outbreak of war? (And 
let us remember that what is true of England in this 
respect, is true also to a greater or less extent of all 
nations). Manifestly, and as the English journal 
quoted above points out, 


“With effectual defense so far past hope, any future war 
between the Great Powers must take the form of an immediate 
and enormous competition in the destruction of civilian life and 
property, each state trying desperately to quell and numb the 
enemy nation’s will by the approach of extermination, before 
a similar process of depopulation has broken the spirit of its 
own. Any available air-forces, it is held, would so obviously 





570 The Patmos Visions 


go farther in offense than in defense, that defense would scarcely 
be attempted”’. 


From the foregoing illustration may be clearly seen 
the inevitableness, in view of conditions already exist- 
ing, of a line of political developments that must lead 
to the fulfilment of the prophecies of Revelation con- 
cerning the ending of human history, and of ‘“‘the king- 
doms of this world’. The dread of the next war is 
upon all the nations. ‘The horrible character thereof, 
and the utter havoc it would work, are clearly foreseen. 
This prospect is the dominant influence that is shaping 
at this hour the policies of all the leading nations of 
the world. And yet, every measure they devise in the 
face of that prospect does but make more certain and 
more dreadful the very cataclysm they are so anxious 
to avert. 


“THE SEA AND THE WAVES ROARING’’ 


Thus far we have viewed only the present state of 
things political among the christianized nations of 
Europe (‘‘the earth’? of prophecy); for it is out of a 
combination of these, (in political alliance with apos- 
tate christianity in its final development, ‘“‘the great 
whore’), that the last stage of beast government (that 
represented by the seventh head) is to arise. But for 
an understanding of the situation as a whole we must 
look beyond the borders of christendom, and take note 
of what is going on at this time among the outside na- 
tions, the restless and tumultuous “‘sea’”’. For while 
the chief concern of the statesmen of Europe is the 





Concluston—W here We Now Stand 571 


danger each nation has to fear from its neighbors, yet 
there is also a great and growing apprehension of 
attack from the dark-skinned peoples of Asia and 
Africa. For there is just now a great and increasing 
agitation of ‘‘the sea’’ of the nations. 

To begin with, Russia, that land of mystery and 
breeding-place of horrors, must be viewed as no longer 
a part of Christendom. ‘The well-posted “Literary 
Digest’, in an article entitled “Why Russia is Outside 
Europe’ (June 6, 1925), shows most convincingly 
that the real Russia of today is a very different thing 
from what it is supposed, by superficial observefs, to 
be. And in this exposure of the real Russia, we are 
given to see what the spirit of Bolshevism actually is. 
The following is quoted by the Digest from an inform- 
ative article in The Contemporary Review (London) : 


“Our civilization with its immense material and scientific 
progress is looked on as the criterion of human development. 
By the ‘civilization’ of a country or a race we mean its approxi- 
mation to European conditions, its ability to use our political 
nostrums (parliaments and ballot-boxes) and our mechanical 
‘conjuring-tricks (motor-cars and electricity). All our news- 
papers, reviews, history-books and the like are crammed with 
examples of this superficial philosophy, which renders impossible 
a true and objective appreciation of historical movements’. 


But Bolshevism views these idols of Western civili- 
zation with lofty contempt. Bolshevism is a mighty 
reaction against the work of Peter the Great, who 
sought to refashion his country after the model of the 
states of Europe. True Russians, we are told, hated 
all that was representative of the Europeanization of 





C72 The Patmos Visions 


their country, ‘‘feeling it to be artificial, almost sat- 
anic’. And now the Bolshevistic revolution has swept 
out of Russia practically every trace of European civil- 
ization. Our authority says: “Bolshevism is purely 
nihilistic and destructive in its action, as all who have 
had personal experience of Soviet rule will agree’. 
Yet the masses of the people, despite all their miseries, 
have no desire for a different sort of government. 
“They have a boundless confidence in the future of 
their country which nothing can shake. ‘They are just 
waiting patiently and resignedly, and with a great con- 
fidence, for what may come’. The spirit of Bol- 
shevism, which encountered strong resistance on the 
West, finds the most favorable conditions for its rapid 
spread eastward. The present disturbances in China 
are due in large measure to Bolshevistic propaganda; 
for truly “the yellow races are turning red’. Mean- 
while the chief of the military forces of Russia says: 
“The Red army must prepare for action; for the mo- 
ment is approaching when the Communist Interna- 
tionale will lead millions of proletarians into the fierce 
battle of labor’. What seems to be immediately in 
prospect is an Asiatic Alliance; and the most signifi- 
cant feature of the situation is that in that Asiatic 
Alliance, Russia is taking the leading part. As to this, 
a newspaper correspondent writes from Moscow: 


“The corner-stone of the Asiatic block has indeed been ce- 
mented by the reinforced friendship between China and the 
Russian Soviet Union. . . . The leaders of Chinese thought 
and the vanguard of an awakening independent China are 





—— Gonclusion—Where We Now Stand 573 


coming to feel more and more that Soviet Russia is their natural 
ally against the encroachments of the Western Powers. “The 
conviction is deepening that when China shakes off the lethargy 
of the feudal centuries, and attempts to unify her disintegrated 
empire, Russia will support her in the struggle to discard West- 
ern dominion, economic and political alike’. 


In corroboration of the above, a British consul in 
China has estimated that “‘China will go ‘Red’ within 
five years’’. 

Thus it is perceived that Russia now stands wholly 
apart from christendom and Europe, and in definite 
alliance with the Asiatic nations; into whose peoples, 
moreover, she is systematically instilling a racial self- 
consciousness, and fostering a spirit of deadly hatred 
toward the white races. 

The developments of the political situation in China 
are becoming more and more, even as I write and re- 
vise these pages, a matter of solicitude to the western 
nations, who, in comparison with the dark skinned 
races, are a small minority. The following press de- 
spatch from London, under date of July 12, 1925, will 
give an idea of the seriousness of the present state of 
affairs in the minds of those who are best able to form 
an estimate thereof :— 


“LONDON, July 12.—The ominous events in China, Mo- 
rocco, and India apparently are the preliminary stages of an 
unparalleled war to death between the white and colored races, 
with the Pacific as the central battle ground, writes F. Britten 
Austen, noted English author and frequent contributor to the 
Saturday Evening Post and other American publications, in 
the Sunday Pictorial today. He firmly believes the world is 
almost blindly rushing into a struggle which is being incited 





574. ‘The Patmos Visions 


by a shrewd Bolshevik campaign, and which will make the fall 
of the Roman empire look like a small local affair in the des- 
tinies of the white nations. 

“The shadow of a war cloud in the east is falling darkly 
upon the hitherto sunny world supremacy of the white race’, 
writes Mr. Austen. ‘It is unpleasantly possible that the cloud 
may be cloven tomorrow or the day after, but inevitably, by the 
lightning flashes of war. “The white man’s prestige will dis- 
appear when the savage, barbaric millions from Africa and 
Asia can defy the white man. _ : 

“The white man has forcibly fed the ancient populations with 
the newest theories of education, politics, and social custom. 
He has fatuously presented them with thousands and thousands 
of cinemas showing the white races in a contemptible light. 
He has committed the crowning folly of leading the colored 
races into battle against white men. In Africa, India, Indo- 
China and China, tens of thousands of demobilized war auxil- 
iaries have returned to spread the wondrous tale that the white 
mah is not invincible. 

“The colored races hate the white man, with a hate whereof 
we have no conception. Moscow’s one great reiterated hope is 
that the innumerable millions of colored races will rise and 
massacre the white man. ‘They have used feverish propaganda 
to accomplish this. Tchey count cunningly on Japan. Although 
Japan is equal with the western nations in the war of com- 
merce, the white man insultingly treats her nationals as an 
inferior race. Her population is desperately over-crowded, 
but .the white man denies it an outlet. Japan could fight a war 
against America or Great Britain, or both with a reasonable 
prospect of at least temporary success. If she should, the whole 


world’s colored races would seethe in fanatic excitement’.”’ 


Reports to the same effect come from other quarters 
of the Orient, specially from India and all Mohamme- 
dan countries. A student of conditions in Moslem 
lands writes on the theme of “Islam in Change”; and 
from a broad survey of the facts, he reaches the con- 





 Gonclusion—Where We Now Stand 576 


clusion that ‘‘Christianity and Islam face each other 
for world decision’? (meaning, of course, what the 
world regards as ‘“‘Christianity’’). 

In North Africa similar conditions prevail. The 
well-sustained resistance of the tribes of Morocco to 
the armies of France and Spain is due to the increasing 
hatred of the dominant whites on the part of the dark- 
skinned peoples. A New York paper puts it thus: 


“That which is happening in North Africa is an insurrection 
against the domination of the white race. Something of the 
same sort is brewing in India. It is not pleasant to contemplate 
the possibilities of a rising of Asia and Africa against Europe, 
the blacks and yellows against the white, Mohammedanism 
against Christianity’. 


Therefore, whichever way we look, the same condi- 
tions prevail; and there is, moreover, a remarkable 
unanimity of opinion among competent observers as to 
the significance of those conditions. The whole world 
is dividing itself into two great camps; the christian- 
ized nations against the pagans; the western peoples 
against ‘‘the kings of the east’? (Rev. 16:12); while 
unclean spirits like frogs, such as Militarism, Bol- 
shevism, and Modernism, “‘go forth unto the kings of 
the earth, and of the whole world, to gather them to 
the battle of that great day of God,Almighty” (Rev. 
16:13, 14). Since that battle comes under the sixth 
vial, it lies near the end of the day of wrath. There- 
fore, by the fact that the preparations for it are al- 
ready advancing rapidly, we may be sure the beginning 
of that day is close at hand. 





576 The Patmos Vistons 


With Russia. definitely split off from affiliation with 
the Western nations, and identifying herself with ‘‘the 
kings of the East’’, the situation is serious indeed; for 
the latter outnumber the former three to one. ‘The 
immediate effect is that the nations of Europe are com- 
- pelled, as a measure of self-preservation, to present a 
united front to this combined Red and Yellow peril; 
and the only practical way to do this is to clothe the 
League of Nations with the powers of a Superstate, 
and to provide it with “great iron teeth’. 

Much more to the same effect might be adduced; but 
enough has been said to show that from both internal 
and external conditions, strong pressure is being ex- 
erted upon the nations of apostate Christendom, 
whereby they are being forced into the adoption of 
political measures which will inevitably bring about the 
fulfilment of the visions of Patmos, and of all that has 
been written aforetime concerning that great and terri- 


ble day of the Lord. 


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The Patmos visions; a study of 8p 


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